Hairy buggy

Hi

Another busy and eventful week. Sales were a bit quieter, which was just as well with 3 out of 5 vans currently out of action. Still no news on when they will be back, so might be back down to the truck rental department to make sure we can cope with any flurry of orders. 

Nearly had to start moves for a replacement electric buggy as one of ours snapped its aluminium chassis in a very complex position just above the rear suspension mounts, making repair either very expensive or possibly completely impractical. We use them for towing the Danish trolley trailers when collecting orders and putting down the potting, so very important bits of kit and very hard working. They must be 20 years old so they have served us well, we have replaced the batteries a couple of times and mended the odd breakdown but over all we really like them. I got a bit of a shock when looking up prices for a new replacement, with some running close to £20,000. You can get a good car for that sort of money and it would do a lot more than pull a little trailer around. Anyway I suddenly remembered that originally we had three buggies and we had retired one into the back of the barn, using it occasionally for spares over the years and in just a couple of hours we resurrected it back to life by transferring all the kit from the broken one onto the chassis of the retired one.

The irrigation system is about to enter its busiest period now the sun has come out, so we have done a bit of work trying to get that running a bit better. We have had a couple of misbehaving non return valves next to the main pumps and trying to find an irrigation plumber to take on this sort of job has proved difficult. We decided to bite the bullet and have a go ourselves, picking a dull day and the longest time slot we could find between watering programmes. It has been a long time since the fittings have been apart, so it was quite a fight with a lot of hammering and levering to get the necessary parts off the pumps, but we got there. Reassuringly we could see quite a lot of damage to the internal valve components so we were sure that we had diagnosed the right fault. Reassembly was relatively simple but there is always the challenge of refitting it all without any leaks. On this element we failed, although only just, despite using monster amounts of tape and sealant. We have a couple of frustratingly small drips but we can cope with that for the moment. We got the main pump going in time for the next irrigation programme although the backup pump turns out to have a leak on the motor seal which we didn't know until the valve was fixed, so we have moved the next repair about 6 inches down the pipeline.

Availability list.

Three colour forms of Coreopsis Uptick, strong, compact and bushy with bright standout flowers. With such a long flowering period it looks like a winner to me. Stunning upright flower stems of Phlox paniculata Sweet Summer in colour now. Strong stemmed and scented.

New range for this year is the Helenium Hayday series, Five colours, nice and compact and already showing good colour. Fresh crops of Erigeron karv. Stallone with its tiny multicolour daisy flowers that come all summer long are back on the list. Salvia's of all sorts are now growing strongly and producing the first of many flowers.

Sanguisorba Tanna is throwing up lots of bud. Attractive foliage and subtle flowers make it a classic garden plant. Sunshine yellow flowers of Euryops chrysanthemoides are beginning to open, another all summer performer.

Masses of bud and colour to come with the Bidens summer range. Already making an eye catching show they look fab. The earliest batches of Dianthus are producing flower stems and tight bud. All are scented varieties and very bushy. The hardy Osteospermum Tresco Purple are in bud. Excellent bushy stock with buds fattening.

Armeria Dreameria series of long season flowering Armerias are now showing their first colour with loads more to come. No white this year but a series of three pretty different pinks making a delightful show. The more standard classic Sea Thrift Armeria maritima are also showing bud too above fresh new growth.

Nemesia Wisley Vanilla is back on the list and in flower. Delightful heady vanilla scent as you walk anywhere near it. The compact Achillea Milly Rock series are now in bud. Strong growers but short in stature. Summer colour is on its way with the Gaura range doing it's thing. Hoping to have a good run of availability over the next few months but they are selling so fast there may be the odd short break.

The Gaillardia Guapa series we are trying out are looking great. Strong and compact the first buds are already out. Many of the Leucanthemums are coming into strong bud now. Campanula posharskyana is chunky and now producing plenty of bud and Campanula carpatica has its first flowers opening. The Balloon Flower Platycodon Twinkle Blue and Twinkle White are now well into bud with the odd flash of colour, Rhodanthemum's are also in bud, ready to flower all summer long. Favourite border classics Verbena bonariensis and Lollipop are back on line. I have several batches on the way so we can keep the plant size in the pot manageable.

Best wishes from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.