Hairy energy

Morning all, 

It's definitely still a bit wintery out there, with limited fresh plant growth on some lines that I had hoped would make an appearance by now, despite the slightly improved weather. I think those two cold snaps have really slowed some lines up and a few look like they might suffer more permanent damage. I won't panic just yet, many have a habit of rising to the occasion when spring properly arrives, so I must be patient.

We are bowling through the over-wintering plant tidying and trimming, with some tunnels now being revisited for a final tidy up, ready for spring. The top up stock of wooden marketing boxes is now under construction. Box printing finished last week and the POS boards are also now done, they just need attaching to their backing lattice and treating to protect them from the worst of the weather. The screen printing trolley has been cleaned off, wrapped up and tucked away in the barn until it's reappearance next winter, so another seasonal milestone passes. I think I have removed all the remaining ink smudges from my person, it's surprising where you find the odd splatter.

Being a relatively quiet time of year for growers, this is a popular time for conferences and I did attend one, via Zoom, this week. It's not an ideal medium, but as it was really for greenhouse growers rather than hardy stock folk, it was just fine. At least on Zoom I get the chance to slip away and do something productive if and when I lose the plot. You never know quite what you are going to pick up at these events and although some of the technical stuff was beyond me, I did harvest some reassuring advice. The presentation by the CEO of Fargro (the sundries supplier) was positive and concise, reminding us what great opportunities our industry has at the moment, we are 'right on trend' with so much focus on wellbeing, health, fitness, nature and the environment. Although we all need profit to operate, the most important aspects are the plants and the people, especially the team operating the business. He felt that rather than being 'goal focused', which can sometimes be rather black and white in its outcome (good if you win, bad if you don't), it is far more motivational in the long term for people to be to be 'purpose orientated' and focus on achievements rather than goals. People with a purpose often feel part of something positive and achieving stuff is a nailed on feel good factor.

It was interesting and quite hard hitting when he pointed out that unless energy is constantly added to a business or team, then order gradually turns to disorder. I know that part is supposed to be my job but sometimes it's quite hard to keep up that energy input, especially when you get as wrinkly as me.

Are we there yet? Unfortunately no, you never arrive, you just try to keep in the game and hopefully enjoy the journey.

Had a very interesting chat this week with a commercial heating engineer who came to have a look at the heating system in our propagation unit. We are looking to ditch our 3 small oil boilers which currently provide the heat in there, in favour of greener air source heat pumps. It all looked feasible and fairly easy to install as a basic unit. However we then introduced the wind turbine and potential solar output into the equation and things got a bit more exciting. We had already dismissed putting in battery storage to use up some of our excess electric production, because of the high cost and lack of return on the investment, but he suggested putting in a large highly insulated hot water store instead, which heats up when there is spare power and transfers the heat into the tunnels when required. So you have different phases of heating; first; run the air source heat pump with surplus turbine power to heat the tunnels, second; use any surplus power to heat the hot water store, third; when the surplus power runs out use the stored hot water to heat the tunnel and finally; when there is no surplus power or hot water, revert back to importing power to run the air source heat pump. The heat pump is super efficient even with imported power, so with the other options installed we would save even more AND he says it's not too expensive (much cheaper than a battery store and more eco-friendly in material use). I've not seen the quote yet!

2023 Retail price reviews

In view of our price increases for 2023, don't forget to review your own retail prices and let us know ASAP if you want us to pre-price at new rates. I will have to update our records and make sure I have the printing plates ready to roll. Thanks. 

Availability list highlights

Winter and spring flowering Cyclamen coum are now available in small numbers with more coming on stream for later. Most are in bud with some colour showing. Spring must be on the way, the Pulmonaria are up with most varieties showing bud with the odd flash of colour.

The Aubretia Regado Red are in bud now with the odd flower opening. Do remember we are growing cold here so the cold snap next week may reduce the colour showing. The blue variety is close behind but will be fractionally later budding up. Spring bulbs are on the way and buds are already nicely on show on both the little hooped petticoat Narcissus varieties.

Best wishes  from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.