Hairy Flashback

Hi

A warm and dryish weekend for some, which is a good start, although it looks a bit blustery. At least the turbines are going to  keep going over most of the coming week! Not ideal gardening weather. Even on our free draining chalk ground turns to puddles almost the moment it starts raining again, so I feel sorry for those on anything heavier. At least when the sun does make an appearance demand materialises pretty quickly, let's hope the weather picks up soon or at least settles down a bit. Sales are still reasonable considering the weather, although we still haven't hit Spring Madness levels yet. Probably just as well as we are still a van down, with another in next week for hopefully a relatively minor fix. The long term issues we have had with the older Fiat, under warrantee, have progressed to a degree, in that the garage have now referred it to Fiat HQ to get guidance as to what to do next! Hopefully someone will give the go ahead to start replacing some parts rather than reprogramming it again, we wait with baited breath.

Hope you all had a good Easter with either lots of sales and/or some family time. We had a great Easter weekend, loads done and lunch out on Sunday. Way too much chocolate, with still more to wade through, but energy levels are high!

We are potting on Saturday morning, for the first time this year in order to make up a bit for the two four day weeks. Despite my best intentions we just couldn't quite keep pace with the rate the young plants are becoming ready to pot, and the last thing you need at this time of year is the added pressure of stock not getting potted. When things really kick off on the sales front I always end up berating myself for not getting more potting done earlier so we can keep everyone satisfied. One day should get us back on track and use up most of the potting compost, so we can't do much more than that.

Sometimes something triggers a whole load of old memories to come flooding back from years ago and that happened big time this week. We have been taking on a few new customers this spring to soak up some of my possibly over optimistic production targets. Caroline always does in-depth analysis of potential new customers in preparation of taking things further, which mostly involves a Google Maps search as to how the site looks! One of this week's enquiries was quite a shock as it turned out to be the same site where I started my very first enterprise. Straight out of horticultural college, together with another graduate, we set up a 5 acre veg nursery on some rented land. It became quickly apparent that we had learnt very little about commercial veg growing during our academic period, possibly due to the excessive effort put into having a good time, as we struggled to make ends meet on such a small scale. Luckily we started selling produce to the locals over the fence, before setting up a market stall at the entrance, followed by constructing a farm-shop a few months later. At that point I got married and gave up that enterprise to start the nursery down here, having learnt a lot about running a business. 40 years on and we are still trying to get it right, but I think we are getting the hang of it now. For three years my lunch fuel package was large chips and a cheese and onion pasty, yet I was stick thin. I would sleep in the back of the van from 5.00am, while my business partner went off to the wholesale market. Once it was light enough to work I would be out there producing and cutting crops for the shop and then manning the retail end once we opened. We were a bit of a local novelty act, the peroxide punk veg grower (me) and his wide-boy mate. Hey ho, it worked at the time, although I was relieved to be out of it in the end. 

Availability list.

The excellent newcomer Allium Ostara is up and looking particularly smart with buds just appearing in the leaf bases. One of the last of our spring bulbs to show up is Chionodoxa, which is now showing its pretty short blue flowers. The very late flowering Narcissus Lieka is at last in bud. A last hurrah for these spring hero's.

Geraniums nodosum and phaeum Samabor are both early Geraniums and budding well. Erigeron Stallone always sells really well, Our first big overwintered crop has been selling through but now they have the added bonus of their firsts buds showing. They flower from early spring to late autumn, and in sheltered spots we have had the still going at Christmas. White flowering Bergenia are now showing colour and looking their best.

Anemone blanda White have shot up, with buds and flowers well on show too. A great seller. The bronzed green ferny leaves of Polemonium Heaven Scent look well and pale blue flower buds are now opening. Bold white flowers of Ipheon Alberto Castillo are beginning to open as are the two other Ipheon's Tessa & uniflorum. The ever popular Allium Purple Sensation is showing well now as is the Allium christophii.

Multiple Hosta varieties are bursting through, with One Man's Treasure looking really smart with deep green leaves and very dark stems. All propagated in our own micro-prop lab, we have a great selection. Summer stars the Agapanthus are now making strong growth after their winter dormancy period. Like the Hostas they are all propagated in our microprop lab and have overwintered well. We don't often have very many, but we have made a bigger effort with them over the last year so we can get them as far as a hairy pot rather than selling them all to other growers!

Best wishes from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.