Hairy harvesting

Hi. 

Back into the cauldron of heatwave conditions on a nursery. Early starts and even earlier finishes means that productivity has evaporated along with all the water in our main pond. We have had to run some water in there to at least save some of the plant and insect life that was thriving just a week or two ago. It has happened before and it is surprising how things can bounce back given more favourable conditions. It’s not quite as hot here as before, but it looks like being longer running this time and I’m not sure which is worse.  I’m going to keep this one brief as I am probably a bit over tired and not thinking very clearly. 

On top of the heat issues and the usual nursery chaos, Caroline’s mum sadly passed away last week after being ill for quite a while. Even when expected it still throws everything into a bit of a mess, so we are perhaps not quite as focussed as usual, at the moment.  It didn’t help that last night the farm had to harvest the field of rape beside our house, starting at midnight and finishing about 5.30am. They were desperate for the crop to hold a bit of moisture overnight as it was too dry to cut during the day. Apparently, it out worked well for the crop, although with all our windows open I must have been woken 10 or 15 times to the not so gentle lullaby of a monster combine turning next to the window, or a big tractor and trailer trundling past taking a load back to the farm. The joys of living in the country! Take care out there. 

Social media updates To find our Instagram content try our username @thehairypotplantcompany  or use the link below; https://www.instagram.com/thehairypotplantcompany?igsh=MXhhMGxhcjgzNGYydA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr 

Availability list. 

Summer must be here with bud on many of the Agapanthus varieties. The super popular Nemesia Wisley Vanilla is back on the list and there are more follow-on batches coming too.  Fabulous Echinacea in bud and showing a bit of colour. Very strong stemmed, especially the Lakota range. Small and compact the Lewisia Elise have plenty of bud already and will flower all summer long. The pretty Foam Flower Tiarella wherrii are now in flower and bud We already have several Asters in bud, which are usually something we associate with late summer!  Another later summer range are the mini garden Chrysanthemums which are already showing early tight bud. The early summer flowering Allium Millenium is now beginning to show a flash of colour. It’s a cracker, much tidier foliage and habit than the spring flowering Alliums, and it flowers for longer too. We have a couple of batches of fresh Digitalis coming into bud. Not many so don’t hang about. There are some cracking Verbena’s Lollipop ready to go. Don’t miss out on this very popular line. A couple of the summer flowering Crocosmia are now in bud, Quite a few Leucanthemum in bud now, the first of many flowers to come. We have plenty of Scabiosa in bud in a range of colours, another long flowering summer star. Garden Pinks (Dianthus) are back in bud again after recovering from our ever-hungry rampaging hares. More summer stars are coming out now with bud appearing on the Gaura and Salvia’s too. 

Herb sales seem to be booming this year; it must be all that healthy home cooking we are being encouraged to do. Lots of stock is coming through nicely now and the tender herbs like Basil are now making their summertime appearance. Tarragon is back and the Mints have recovered nicely too. There are some super Sage, both Green and Purple. 

Best wishes from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.