Hairy jiving

Morning all,

At some point Spring will make a proper appearance and catch us all out. Another disappointing week weather -wise with even cooler conditions forecast for next week after a fairly dreary weekend. It is rapidly approaching the end of April but it still feels like March, so my nursery body-clock is all out of kilter. Forcing myself to start on the first Basil sowing this weekend in expectation of only the odd cold night from now on, as they really curl their toes up if it gets too chilly. I can keep them in a bit of heat for a couple of weeks or so and I have to assume that something spring -like appears by the time they are ready to pot. It has to happen sometime. A few of the staff have been scaring the sun away by getting their shorts out, but the have been a few knees knocking as a result!

Despite everything sales have continued to bowl along here at a pretty good rate, with batches of plants selling through well and indeed selling out. It's a tricky and stressful balance to keep, getting the stock levels and availability lists right. The perfect result is to sell out of a batch at the end of the week, so we can take it off the list and not worry about it, but it rarely happens like that. I can have a  plant on the list for weeks ticking along and then during it's last week everyone orders it and we run out too early, very frustrating although it does in theory create some level of profitability. The plant production industry tends to work on very slim margins which means that we have to sell 80-90% of a batch of plants to cover costs, and it is only the last few pots that end up being the profit margin, so we have to get ourselves into the position of selling every last pot of a batch whenever we can to generate that profit margin. 

Tricky week 'van juggling', with one in the garage for brake renewal and the other off the road until Friday after last week's suspension failure. We put a few extra orders onto Bleach of Lavant to ease the pressure and did multiple trips some days to get by. Worked out ok in the end, although next week could see similar issues with another brake renewal and another suspension part still to be fitted. It was an interesting lesson in commercial vehicle parts supply, getting the parts for the air suspension repair this week. The garage shopped around starting with the Peugeot parts people, a fair price (about £250 each and we needed a pair to be sensible) but they had none in stock for a couple of weeks. So went to Fiat who use identical parts for their system, they had one in stock and wanted over £600! There a frank exchange of views and the excuse was that they had to buy it from Peugeot. The garage managed to get the price down to £400, and it was ordered and came the same day, so the van is already back on the road, avoiding any van hire costs a delay might have caused. The second part for the other side of the van (which still works ok but is the same age and likely to fail at some point) was put on back order with Peugeot at the cheaper price but long wait and arrived the following day! Ace!

The highlight of the week by a mile was the return to the Winchester Guildhall of our jive group run by Danny (the youngest of our van drivers). It has been over 3 years since the last event which stopped at the outbreak of Covid. Other delays came after that, including changes in council booking policies etc, but we managed to renegotiate terms and we are partly returned. This was the first night back, a sell-out with 180 very excited dancers, many queuing outside before the doors even opened. Apparently there were a few 'welling up' with the emotion of it all, many hadn't been dancing for those 3 years and couldn't quite believe they had returned. The atmosphere was so happy, positive and energetic the entire evening, it was a joy and privilege to be there. Early on I danced with 'Vee' a young lady who I'm sure celebrated her 75th before the covid outbreak, who couldn't stop laughing and smiling (could well have been at my two left feet). I danced with her again towards the end and asked if she had enjoyed her evening and she said she was ' euphoric', barely containing her glee. I think she had even more energy than me. There won't be many evenings as good as that for jiving and we all now have a renewed appreciation of what a privilege it is to dance at such a fantastic venue. Still smiling about it days later, especially now the aches have subsided.  Roll on the next one. 

Availability list highlights.

Not much to report on the 'highlight front' other than we do have a fair amount of stock, it just isn't in flower. Anything with a hint of a flower has sold out over the last few weeks. Frustratingly cool weather and low light levels is slowing growth of the fresh stock but things are coming on line again gradually. Lots more to come over the next few months.

Phlox paniculata are shooting strongly. A great overwintered crop in a good range of colours. Nice Hosta range with many now starting to unfurl their leaves. Lots of Echinacea in a good range. A late one to appear but then goes nuts. Currently nicely within the pot! Some lovely Asters, very strong overwintered stock, but quite a while from flowering. A batch of super strong Sedum Autumn Joy, a great one for the pollinators later in the summer. 

Best wishes  from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries