Hairy and hot

Hi

Hot, hot, hot. Not the best weather to be working on a nursery, especially when having to work undercover. The farm are, of course not wanting it to rain now, it is too late now to bulk up the crops, they just want a dry run to get the harvest in without the extra costs involved with drying when it goes into store. The early crops are apparently quite good yields as they were sown last autumn and got plenty of water over the winter. It is the later spring sown crops that are a bit of a worry and with world prices low it doesn't look very exciting. They like a bit of diversification on their crop range and this year has been the perfect year to try out a spectacular sunflower crop which currently looks stunning.

We meanwhile have been making the most of the cooler periods when we can, to get most of the manual internal tunnel jobs out of the way and seeking the shade when the heat gets too much. It does nothing for production rates with lots of extra plant handling and movement together with the very important high liquid intake and the resulting trips to the facilities!

It's been a challenging week on the transport front with our first major breakdown of the year. I had been thinking it had been a quiet one so far but this made up for it with a clutch failure three hours away from base with a van load of stock. It was a long trip so we sent the newest Fiat assuming it would be the most reliable, but hey-ho such is life, or should that be 'such are Fiats'. A sudden collapse of the clutch pedal as he approached a major roundabout in Essex alerted Danny that all was lost, but he did save an appearance on the traffic news by using his last bit of momentum to mount the grass verge and get out of the way. Another driver and van were rerouted to meet up, to help bring back driver and plants which worked out ok eventually. They were missing for the entire day not getting back until late, but at least they got back. The van meanwhile started it's trip back to the garage via a relay of recovery trucks and is currently sat in Cobham services on the M25 awaiting the final leg to be completed. Apparently it is a gearbox out job so even when it's back in the garage it could be a while before we see it again. Thankfully we are no longer in peak season so the timing is at least workable.

I had planned an early evening but we have just had a 2 hour power cut which rather scuppered preparing the availability list info which I was halfway through. It has just come back on, so it was a quick whizz round to check the irrigation program had come back on and fire up the computers and get this completed. Now I have to hang about until the second irrigation cycle starts at 9.30 just to make sure the delay to the first cycle completing, doesn't stop the second from starting. I'm suddenly very aware of how dependent we are on the power supply to keep things going. A loss of irrigation in this sort of weather is best not thought about too much.

I keep an eye on the national electric generating situation each week through the NFU energy updates (I don't get out much) and I saw something which surprised me. Currently the French nuclear output is being reduced because the current warming river temperatures mean that the cooling of the reactors is far less effective. That's one feature of global warming I hadn't thought about.

Availability list.

Herb range still looking yummy, with plenty of fresh batches still coming through.

The summer flowering Allium Millenium is looking great. This very worthwhile allium is much tidier in habit and longer lasting than the spring flowering types, a proper impressive border plant. Loads of flower with a mixed colour pallet in the Lewisia batches. They will go on and on.

We have a lovely range of very popular summer Gaura at the moment, in bud and showing some colour, with the final variety of the year making a show now. Rosy Gem is a pretty bicoloured variety but I just have the one batch this summer. It should stick around a little while as I splashed out on quite a big batch!

Hot high summer flowering Crocosmia are showing tight bud on all varieties this week. The first of the Aster Alpha series are now showing tight bud, surely summer can't be drawing in just yet! No, they are early. Mini Garden Chrysanthemums are here, masses of bud on the first batch already with a hint of colour too.

A fab range of the compact Helenium Hay Day series are budding well now, with colour showing. Lythrum are in colour, looking very insect friendly with their flashes of pinky purple flowers. Big flowering but compact, strong and stocky Gaillardia Guapa series, looking at their best with colour on show.

Oxalis Iron Cross are looking great with its two tone leaves with the deep pink blooms. Nemesia Wisley Vanilla are doing their thing with its pretty creamy white flowers and heady vanilla scent. Summer is well under way with all the Bidens range showing particularly well, with a strong splashes flower. Rhodanthemums are in bud and flower ready to bloom their socks off for the rest of the summer.

Strong bushy Osteospermum Tresco Purple are now budding up nicely. Liatris spicata are showing their first hint of colour with strong flower stems extending and buds on show. 

Take care, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.