99.13% Peat Free

Hi,

What a change in the temperatures this week. The house took a few days to warm up again but all is toasty after the cold seemed to build up in the fabric of the house. It didn't help that we were without the central heating which packed up in the Autumn, I did try to get it mended but only the failed electric valve control was replaced when in fact the valve itself was also knackered. The plumber wasn't keen to drain the entire system to replace the valve in the winter just in case something else went wrong and we couldn't get any of it working. To be fair we had hot water and a radiator in the bathroom so it wasn't disastrous. Definitely feeling less tense now the warmth has returned.

I managed to finish all the screen printing for the year. All the new box parts and the wooden POS boards are all printed up so just the construction of them to finish, and we are well underway with that. When you receive your first delivery of the year you will see we have revamped the wooden general information POS boards. They look similar to the old ones but the wording now highlights a few extra bits we were very modest about with the previous versions. Over the last few years we have gradually whittled away at the plastic content of our marketing package and we have now reached the stage that the majority of customers have a zero plastic content in their deliveries and we felt this needed mentioning as it is quite a rare thing in our trade.

Then of course there are the peat-free composts we have been potting into since 2013, which we have been fairly quiet about. We are of course trying to get to 100% peat-free but we do still have a tiny bit of peat coming in with some of the young plant modules. The ones we propagate ourselves are peat-free and increasing numbers of incoming stock is also peat-free, with the remaining ones using reduced peat mixes but not yet confident in producing the quality of plants in a peat- free mix. I did a bit of work this week to work out how much peat was still in the total volume of compost we send out, just to reassure myself that it was small and diminishing. With over 600 varieties to add up it was a big sum but a decent spreadsheet helped enormously. I was able to work out the volume of compost in each plug for each variety as they vary quite a lot, then added in the percentage of peat content for each, and added in the volumes of each sold. It came out at an average peat content in each pot of 0.87%, so we are 99.13% peat fee which I was quite pleased with. Obviously we would like to be completely peat-free and I know that as each month goes by that percentage will fall a little bit further until it eventually disappears. The module producers are under pressure to deliver and most will get there, they just need a couple more seasons to get it right.

The rest of the nursery continues to tick along like clockwork, with hardly a hare out of place, although the rabbits are having a field day. Ok so we found 1 fairly major underground water leak and 4 other pipe splits after the thaw, two vans had flat batteries, one is back in the garage under warrantee to sort out some engine issue and another returned today with a 'check engine' message. So no worries.

Prices for 2024

The last couple of years have seen some explosive cost increases. Labour remains by far our biggest cost and wage rates rose significantly in 2023 and will rise another 10% in 2024, but we are hopeful that other costs are beginning to settle down and are not rising quite as quickly. However there will be a price rise for 2024, but we are keeping it to 4%, at 10p per pot. 

Availability list.

Sown from self collected seed from our wood on top of the hill the wild Primula vulgaris are showing their first flowers. Cyclamen coum are already on the list and showing flower and bud. These will usually flower from October through until well into Spring, with a tasteful sprinkling of flowers rather than being drowned in them.

There are flowers on most of the Helleborus niger varieties, although H. praecox tends to be slightly later than the others. New varieties of H. orientalis for us are Halcyon Early Dark Red and Halcyon White Spotted which have both surprised us by showing a few buds already, especially the white one.

A few of the spring bulbs are starting to poke through now with both forms of the petticoat daffodil (Narsicus bulbocodium) already showing well including a few low down fat flower buds. Allium Purple Rain has made an appearance and looks full of promise. It emerges a few weeks before the ever popular Purple Sensation but is just as attractive.

We are not having much success with ordinary snowdrops, but the giant version (Leucojum) that sold out in a week last year are now shooting. We planted a lot more this year so should be plenty to go round. Ipheium foliage is also showing well although flowers will be a little way off yet. Erysimum's are already looking perky with bud showing on many. A can't believe I'm thinking Spring is on its way. Pulmonaria are putting on a little spurt of fresh growth and buds are coming into view. 

Best wishes from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.

Hairy scrap

Hi,

That was a really cold snap, we have just about managed to keep going but there have been a few rosy cheeked plant tidiers by the end of each session. The big log burner in despatch has been a great focal point for huddling around at coffee and lunch but it then becomes a wrench to leave it!

We found a few more vigorous jobs for some of the energetic crew like carting and spreading the wood chip piles created by the tree surgeons when the windbreaks were walloped. It makes a great weed suppressant mulch and is being liberally applied. Should reduce the need to spray off the weeds in the summer which if we don't control them around the tunnels will quickly contaminate the crops.

Greg has also got stuck into our scrap metal heap around the back of the barn which has tidied the area up no end. We have a new waste company we are using and they have supplied a skip specifically for scrap metals, which we have now nearly filled. We pay for the skip delivery but should get more than that back when they pay us the scrap value once it has been sorted and assessed. Fingers crossed. It can be a bit bulky to pack so we have cut up most of it so get as much in as we can. The pile has been building for years, so I suspect the next one will only need to be a small one The new company are going to take a lot more materials from us for recycling which very much seems to be their passion. It certainly ticked our boxes.

I ordered all the bio-control predators this week, spread across the whole growing season from March to October and introduced on a three weekly cycle, 12 different bugs will get released to chase their various target pests. At times it seems a bit of a dark art as we spend thousands of pounds on these little critters and then just let them go, never to be seen again. The proof of the pudding is whether we see many pests and to be fair we do usually get pretty good overall control. Red spider mites, other mites and whitefly are exceptionally well controlled but there are always a few sporadic concentrated outbreaks or particular pests that aren't tasty enough to attract a predator. Then we need to spot treat them with a back up remedy. We can apply a targeted application of lacewing larvae which are voracious feeders, eating just about anything with legs including slow moving staff, apply a bio-based plant tonic, stimulant or protective spray and as a last resort knock them back with a pesticide. We don't have to resort to chemicals very often now, which is just as well as they are becoming so heavily controlled that permissions to use them are few and far between.

Today we had our first NBIS (Nursery Business Improvement Scheme) meeting for a whole year after we seem to fall off the HTA radar for setting it all up. We had an excellent tour of Patrick Fairweather's liner nursery followed by loads of information exchange, better known as nursery gossip, and promises that the HTA aim is to build the NBIS groups up again to a national level organisation and get some young blood involved. I still find every meeting inspirational from either the personal support freely given or the tit bits of knowledge that you can take away and instantly make your nursery better.

CC Trolley Shelf repair quota deadline for this year.

For a little while now I have posted information on my weekly Mailchimp email distribution to, in theory, make it easy to transfer any of your unused CC trolley repair quota to us, so we can try and clear the large number of broken trolley shelves we have accumulated over the year. Please do check it out if you think you or your organisation might be able to help.

I now have a deadline for this year's exchange to be completed by the 24th of January, although even if you miss this date we can start collecting quota for next time. Thanks.

Prices for 2024

The last couple of years have seen some explosive cost increases. Labour remains by far our biggest cost and wage rates rose significantly in 2023 and will rise another 10% in 2024, but we are hopeful that other costs are beginning to settle down and are not rising quite as quickly. However there will be a price rise for 2024, but we are keeping it to 4%, at 10p per pot. 

Availability list.

Cyclamen coum are already on the list and showing flower and bud. These will usually flower from October through until well into Spring, with a tasteful sprinkling of flowers rather than being drowned in them.

There are flowers on most of the Helleborus niger varieties, although H. praecox tends to be slightly later than the others. New varieties of H. orientalis for us are Halcyon Early Dark Red and Halcyon White Spotted which have both surprised us by showing a few buds already, especially the white one.

A few of the spring bulbs are starting to poke through now with both forms of the petticoat daffodil (Narsicus bulbocodium) already showing well. Ipheium foliage is also showing well although flowers will be a little way off yet.

Erysimum's are already looking perky with bud showing on many. A can't believe I'm thinking Spring is on its way. Pulmonaria are putting on a little spurt of fresh growth and buds are coming into view.

Sown from self collected seed from our wood on top of the hill the wild Primula vulgaris are showing their first flowers. 

Best wishes from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.

Hairy shelves

Hi,

Close to a full crew this week so lots more work completed despite the cold weather impeding work rates in some areas.

Overwintering cutting back, tidying and mulching of all the stock is progressing really well. It's a huge job and quite challenging when temperatures have been as low as they have been, but it saves us so much time in despatch later in the spring it is well worth the effort. It also means we are able to keep on staff over the winter period and not risk losing them to other attractions. Then there are all the other jobs we don't have time to do during the busy seasons, like the POS wooden board printing and preparations, the wooden marketing box repairs and printing, plus construction of fresh box supplies to maintain and increase stock levels. We have had a good tidy up of the site after the windbreaks got their major haircut last month. Most of the off-cuts were chipped and some logged and stacked for seasoning and burning next year, but inevitably there was quite a bit of small scale debris strewn about the place and in need of a concerted effort to collect and burn just to finish it all off.

The farm popped up this week and very neatly trimmed our massive and very long hedges around the site, so we are looking very trim at the moment. This is the time of year when the farm are spreading all the different composts and green wastes they bring in to improve their soil condition and lower their artificial fertiliser inputs. They use green waste from local composters and a sewage sludge from up London way, which is spread by specialist contractors. Best not to go into details on the sludge but it does a great job and doesn't whiff too much as it is incorporated into the soil very quickly! Anyway we get the chance at this time to have the farm in again and take away our own compost heaps where we collect all our waste plants, cut back plant material and tunnel scrapings over the year. They mix it in with the other composted green waste and on the fields it goes. The nursery heap clearance was done this week so that gives us another nice clean start to build the piles back up again over the year. The compost handling isn't something we could cope with ourselves on the nursery, but luckily the size of the kit they have on the farm is just massive, especially when stood next to our little golf buggies or forklift, it is all dealt with very professionally and with great efficiency for which we are very grateful.

We have started the redistribution of the piles of chippings left by the windbreak maintenance, but this time using our own little bits of kit and a shovel. One of the new hedges we planted a couple of years ago has grown beautifully but was swamped by weed last year which had to be cut and sprayed to regain some control but with a really thick chipping layer now applied, we should have much better and more sustainable control. There are lots of other areas to mulch, just hoping we find enough time to get through it all.

CC Trolley Shelf repair quota deadline for this year.

For a little while now I have posted information on my weekly Mailchimp email distribution to, in theory, make it easy to transfer any of your unused CC trolley repair quota to us, so we can try and clear the large number of broken trolley shelves we have accumulated over the year. Please do check it out if you think you or your organisation might be able to help.

I now have a deadline for this year's exchange to be completed by the 30th of January, although even if you miss this date we can start collecting quota for next time.

I hope some of you may be able to help us out, any number, no matter how small, will be gratefully received. Thanks. 

Prices for 2024

The last couple of years have seen some explosive cost increases. Labour remains by far our biggest cost and wage rates rose significantly in 2023 and will rise another 10% in 2024, but we are hopeful that other costs are beginning to settle down and are not rising quite as quickly. However there will be a price rise for 2024, but we are keeping it to 4%, at 10p per pot. 

Availability list.

Cyclamen coum are already on the list and showing flower and bud. These will usually flower from October through until well into Spring, with a tasteful sprinkling of flowers rather than being drowned in them.

There are flowers on most of the Helleborus niger varieties, although H. praecox tends to be slightly later than the others. New varieties of H. orientalis for us are Halcyon Early Dark Red and Halcyon White Spotted which have both surprised us by showing a few buds already, especially now the white one.

A few of the spring bulbs are starting to poke through now with both forms of the petticoat daffodil (Narsicus bulbocodium) already showing well. Ipheium foliage is also showing well although flowers will be a little way off yet.

Erysimum's are already looking perky with bud showing on many. A can't believe I'm thinking Spring is on its way. Pulmonaria are putting on a little spurt of fresh growth and buds are coming into view.

Sown from self collected seed from our wood on top of the hill the wild Primula vulgaris are showing their first flowers. We have given them a bit of a trim to tidy up the foliage but fresh leaves and buds are already springing forth.

Best wishes from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.

Hairy New Year

Hi,

Happy New Year to all!

Hope you've not got too many Christmas trees left and January hasn't washed you away already.

That was a very hectic break for us. Lots of visitors, much feasting and a smidge of merriment, just what Christmas is supposed to be about. I am hoping now to get back to a more normal diet and regain the svelte figure current in hiding, however there are still a few leftover treats that still need consuming so it's going to be a tough couple of weeks.

The nursery took a bit of a battering in all those storms, we came very close to losing one sheet but managed to fix it back down before any lasting damage was done. Caroline was back up the turbine mast again to reset another wing tip after 16 mini power cuts in one day, together with strong winds. We have a water leak somewhere and frustratingly we haven't found it yet, but with the irrigation off at the moment it's not a major headache just a bit of a pain.

The new season is rushing towards us so we have spent the first week back getting ready. We have screen printed the rewritten and refreshed sets of our wooden POS info boards, so you can all show off more of the headline sustainable benefits of going Hairy. With 6 new boards in each set it took a bit longer than I thought it would, just for a change. We just need to treat the last few boards to protect them against the worst of the elements. Our massive annual pot label delivery arrived which is always a sign that spring madness is not too far away. We have tweaked the label design his year to highlight a bit more, our use of peat-free potting composts. It's a very subtle change so it won't stand out when we mix the older style labels with the new, whilst clearing out the older stock. We have also been screen printing another big batch of wooden box parts to be able to construct and maintain our stock levels and have a few extra boxes just in case sales go well.

Considering we were still only at half the normal staffing levels and it was a four day week, we've got off to a great start so very pleased with 2024 so far. Long may it continue.

Somewhere along the way we still have to get stuck into the Sage Earth Net Zero project. They have offered us a free go on the preliminary trials so I must make an effort and get stuck in. It' is quite hard at this time of year to stick at the office work in the evening when the log-burner and Christmas cake beckon from afar. Trouble is that in a few weeks we will be too busy to do much more than cope with the production and sales demands, the winter is always much shorter than you think.

Prices for 2024

The last couple of years have seen some explosive cost increases. Labour remains by far our biggest cost and wage rates rose significantly in 2023 and will rise another 10% in 2024, but we are hopeful that other costs are beginning to settle down and are not rising quite as quickly. However there will be a price rise for 2024, but we are keeping it to 4%, at 10p per pot.

Availability list.

Cyclamen coum are already on the list and showing flower and bud. These will usually flower from October through until well into Spring, with a tasteful sprinkling of flowers rather than being drowned in them.

There are flowers on most of the Helleborus niger varieties, although H. praecox tends to be slightly later than the others. New varieties of H. orientalis for us are Halcyon Early Dark Red and Halcyon White Spotted which have both surprised us by showing a few buds already, especially now the white one.

A few of the spring bulbs are starting to poke through now with both forms of the petticoat daffodil (Narsicus bulbocodium) already showing well.

Erysimum's are already looking perky with bud showing on some. A can't believe I'm thinking Spring is on its way. Pulmonaria are putting on a little spurt of fresh growth and buds are showing on a few.

Sown from self collected seed from our wood on top of the hill the wild Primula vulgaris are showing their first flowers. We have given them a bit of a trim to tidy up the foliage but fresh leaves and buds are already springing forth.

Happy New Year from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.