Hairy Million

Hi

Bank Holiday time again but not quite the forecast for a bonanza, but not too bad. Let's hope the rain holds off for you. This week was manageable despite the continued shortage of vans, but next week may be more of a challenge with just the four days to get everything delivered. We are picking orders on Monday, ready for Tuesday, but not delivering until Tuesday. This should get us off to a flying start to the week and hopefully everything else will fall into place as usual.

Pot stocks are definitely running low to feed the ever hungry potting machine and the young plants just keep pitching up wanting to be potted. Still hoping the season really kicks off soon or at least keeps going for a long while so we can find homes for all this upcoming stock. I am wondering if my Autumn optimism, as I looked through the cutting catalogues, may have been a bit over the top. I can't bring myself not to pot these lovely plants that keep turning up, so fingers crossed the sun does make an appearance soon and we don't end up with a bit of a compost heap at the end of the season!

Even with all this stock I still wish I had more of some things. Herbs have been selling very strongly and we have now hit that 'hungry gap' between the overwintered stock which are mostly sold through and the fresh crops which are waiting for some sunshine to get going. Most lines are ok but we are now out of rosemary, thyme and lavenders for a couple of weeks, so apologies for that. I can't quite believe where all the Lavender went, we were drowning in them a few weeks ago! Some of the thymes didn't like the wet dull weather and the Rosemary just sold in huge volumes early on, possibly a sign of replacements still being purchased for the losses in the cold during the previous winter when we also lost a lot of our stock.

The wildlife here continues to feed on the stock as well, with a major influx of pigeons causing havoc on some stocks. I had some lovely batches of Aquilegia reaching saleable size last weekend and virtually overnight they got stripped down to leaf stalks. We have had to move them to the netted Phlox tunnel where the other vulnerable crops are kept, but their dietary preferences seem to be widening as we catch them trying more and more lines. The rabbits had a visitor last weekend so their numbers have reduced significantly, although the next day a Muntjac deer was spotted grazing in one of the tunnels before being chased back over the fence. Something tells me we may have to heighten our fences over the next winter.

On the positive side the swallows are back on the nursery and looking to set up home in the donkey shed again. Even more excitingly we went out to a rural wedding venue last weekend and on our way back to the car park at close to midnight, we heard a nightingale in full song, it was just delightful. We hadn't heard one for 15 years or so. I went back to tell the other revellers but for some reason they didn't want to come out in the rain to stand in the car park and listen to birdsong!

We had a cracking night of thunderstorms this week which woke us up and kept us awake with the ferocity of the bangs and crashes. A whole load of electrical kit lost the plot and tripped out, but not everything. One security camera, one turbine, one network hub switch, part of the house phone system, the lab consumer unit and the potting shed. It took a few hours to track down all the issues and a visit from the our brilliant local telephone engineer to get the computer/alarm and telephone network almost fully operational again. Just one blown network switch to replace with a more robust one and we will be back to full strength.

The oldest van had a new air suspension compressor fitted which means it too is back to full strength and able to lift a full load rather than being a bit wheezy. I'm wondering if I might get one as well.

Best night out this week was last night when we both spent ten minutes (at 9.00 pm) in the electricity shed watching the turbine generation meter turn over to register 1 million units. Slightly disappointing that it turned out that the meter only goes to 999,999 and on 1 million it goes back to zero! Live and learn. Slept well that night, the excitement was just too much. 

Availability list.

Camassia Alba and the blue flowering Maybelle are both showing multiple buds. Maybelle is particularly good. The earliest batches of Dianthus are now producing flower stems and tight bud. All are scented varieties and very bushy. The highly scented Nemesia Wisley Vanilla are already in flower and will keep going until the first frosts. You'll never guess what it so strongly smells of!

The scrambling Campanula posharskyana is chunky and now producing plenty of bud. Rhodanthemum's are also in bud, although I don't have huge numbers just yet so don't get carried away. Intense blue flowers on Lithodora Compact Blue are now open. Phlox subulata varieites are producing bud and colour, a great early performer in a nice range of colours.

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. Lapis Lazuli is already producing buds.

Best wishes from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.