Hairy Spring

Mornign all,

That was a very busy week. One of those early weeks when lot's of sites decided that was the week to make a move. Last year it happened a week earlier, just before storm Eunis hit and everything went a bit quiet again! Hoping the same won't happen this year, I think the far north had a brush with a big one this week but we just had a nice stiff breeze, not enough to worry about but strong enough to get the turbines generating nicely.

We have been working on a small solar project over the past few weeks to back up our wind generation, so I can feel good about the weather sunshine or rain. We have just agreed to take it to the next stage of drawing up some proper plans and getting an accurate quote. I am hoping that the whole thing won't be too disruptive to the nursery operations, just as I was hopeful the water recycling would be a breeze. That was due to start in early February, but has now been delayed until late Feb/early March, which of course moves it into our busy season. I'm sure it will be fine!

Having a such busy week in despatch highlighted how we weren't quite ready for full-on action, with a few label shortages and organisational ruffles to smooth out. We had a bit of a get together this afternoon with some of the bright young things and myself, to re-jig a few things ready for next week. We applied a little bit of our Lean Management training, did a bit of a de-clutter and redesigned the layout. They are fairly small changes but will hopefully add up to making life a little easier for everyone when the pressure is on. With luck an easier workplace brings more efficiency, and we need as much of that as we can find.

We had quite a bit of work done on one of the Fiat vans a couple of weeks ago, as part of its service. Nothing worrying but things that needed doing ahead of its successful MOT this week. As a special treat for the garage I foam cleaned it, just before the service, so the mechanics could at least find the wheels and bonnet. It had suffered over the winter, but cleaned up amazingly well. I'm not sure if it was worth it in the end as it is now hard to tell which one I cleaned.

The end of February is when our CC trolley annual contract renews. It's an interesting scheme that works ok most of the time, although some of the participants, like us, do suffer quite a hit on the shelf repair front. Every member who rents the CC trolleys and shelves is given an allocation each year of the number of shelves they are allowed to return for repair. Some people will exchange their broken shelves but apparently quite a lot don't take up the option, having found an easier way of 'losing' the shelves, by slipping them onto the trolleys returned to their suppliers. Consequently some growers, not us of course, have so many broken shelves above their allowed allocation, that they end up mending them themselves and only exchanging those that are beyond repair. Our full allocation went in this week, although we didn't quite clear the backlog sat round the back of the barn. There is another way. If you only have a small shelf exchange allocation and it isn't worth transporting them to the exchange depot, or you just don't use it, then you can go onto the CC website and transfer your allocation to the nursery of your choice. Our nursery CC Number is 600423 just in case you need it for the, very easy to use, online shelf transfer page. 

Getting onto more serious stuff, the first Winchester Guildhall jive date is booked March 14th, with another nine dates on offer for the rest of the year. Whoo-hoo! Not quite the full return to weekly lesson orientated sessions that are needed to maintain a healthy flow of fresh blood, but it's a start. We have still got to push the council to reverse their booking policy changes which scuppered the dance bookings in the first place. It's frustrating as I'm sure it would be self-funding. One year's bookings would account for about £30.000 which you would have thought would be enough to pay someone for five hours once a week, to be there 'just in case ' and to lock up at the end. They can be working on other things at the same time, they don't have to be in the room, sounds like a no-brainer to me, but then I'm not a councillor.

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

Definite signs of spring showing now with rampant shootiness just around the corner.

Polemonium Heaven Scent is a stunner and looking great just at the moment. Finely cut bronzed green foliage is really smart and the pale blue flowers will be budding up very soon. Grown in our own micro-prop lab it's not one you see everywhere. Spring bulbs are well on the way and buds are appearing on many of the short Narcissus we have.

Anemone blanda Blue Shades has suddenly made an appearance and already in bud. Only a few ready at the moment but lots more to come.

Scilla sibirica with it's fabulous blue flowers are just poking through with the odd bud showing. 

Best wishes from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.