Hairy Chaos

Hi

Winter marches on with some cold days and nights but nothing too dramatic. It's grey and still down here, with only the briefest of sunny breaks to get the spring inspirational juices flowing. Despite the dullness there are definite signs of growth and bud activity on some lines so I'm sure people will be waking up to some outdoor plant sales pretty soon, as long as the weather doesn't spoil the party. We could really do with a good spring run of weather this year after two seasons on the trot when the proper peak sales season has been scuppered.

We have so much going on at the moment with new site kit being installed, electricians all over the place, mechanics coming and going, materials arriving for various projects, like box making, label and POS board printing and shed building I'm not sure if I'm coming or going and it's only January.

I spent two days being taught the mysterious ways of the Italian seed sowing machine, and I am still reeling. I can see it will be fantastic once it is all sorted out, when we have the right nozzle selections and machine settings sorted out for each individual variety, it's just that there is such a big selection to pick from and still a lot of shopping to do, for multi-headed nozzles and alike, it's going to take a while to get it all sorted. I've already started to add a few 'Hairy' extra parts to the machine, to get it to do exactly what I want it to, the odd brush (draft excluder) here and the odd bit of gaffer tape there, just to fine tune things. Once we start sowing there is going to be an awful lot of walking about, as trays get filled to different levels and different compaction pressures, in preparation for sowing each variety, but at least the sowing will be being still going on while we walk about. I had hoped my serious learning days would be over by now and I could coast into a relaxed retirement, but it looks like this spring is going to set plenty more challenges.

We are half way through refurbishing despatch with some more effective heaters, resulting in cabling and PIR detector upgrades needed for the higher power used. The solar electrician pitched up on Wednesday updating his plan on how to wire all the panels together, now he can see the panels and mounts actually in position. There is now a timing guide for operations to begin, with mid February being offered, I won't hold my breath but it all looks to be moving forward at last.

I have been making further enquiries about having an electric delivery van made, as I had seen that Renault were launching a new model with a really good range and a sensible payload. Charging speeds are supposed to be also much better than their old version, so making it a practical option at last. The first chassis are due into the UK at the end of March and then there is a 10+ week delay while they construct the special lightweight body, so the earliest we could get one would be probably late June. The other crunch issue is that we don't yet know the cost, as Renault haven't yet released their prices to the body builder. More info and prices should arrive here in 2-3 weeks and we can take it from there. It would be nice to use the new summer solar output for delivering plants, but I must admit the bank card has taken a pounding this winter, I'm not sure how far it will sensibly stretch. We'll check out the price and hope the sun shines this spring.

Christmas is just about over in our house, with only a few fancy chocolates to finish off and some 'special' biscuits of the like you only see at this time of year. My waistline will be grateful for a rest, but a bit more nursery exercise over the next few weeks will hopefully regain some control.

Prices for 2025

The new price list is out for 2025. There is a small rise of approx 2% which is more or less where inflation is supposedly currently at, although sadly our cost rises are not running at quite that nice low level. Our biggest cost is labour and that increased last year by close to 10% per hour, with a further increase of close to 8% coming into force in April. External transport (carrier) costs are up 6% which illustrates increasing costs in that area, and young plant costs which also use a lot of labour are rising pretty dramatically too. We are hoping that a combination of better weather bringing in higher sales volumes and reducing waste, together with more efficiency in propagation and production after more investment in mechanisation, will help maintain some margin to reinvest again next year.

Availability list.

Definite signs of spring activity even with the cold weather. Not too much damage, a few agapanthus and alike showing their distaste for the heavier frosts but most things recover remarkably well if not rushed.

The spring bulbs are making their early start with several varieties already up and showing. Not a lot of bud just yet. We only have one Cyclamen coum variety this winter (Silver Leaved) this winter, but they are now producing loads of buds and colour, so looking great.

There are a few trays of Wild Primrose (P. vulgaris) in bud already, with lots more to follow over the next couple of months. In theory a late winter flurry of Erysimum bud and flowers usually gets everyone going on thoughts of spring, but this year they are already budding up! They have happily sat through the frosts we have and are still looking remarkably fresh, green and bushy. The first of many flower-heads are already in tight bud and there is even the odd flash of colour.

Happy New Year from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.

Happy New Hairy Year!

Hi 

That was a cold week, luckily we didn't get a lot of snow but what there is has hung about for several days. Next week looks like getting a bit warmer so hopefully it will be a bit easier to get on with the outside work that needs to be done. With a near full team back this week we did manage to get through a surprising amount of work despite the cold and we have had a couple of other teams in to knock out some things that were beyond our capabilities. The tree surgeons were back in for a couple of days to finish off regaining control of our perimeter trees and hedges. A major prune and sensible tree selection has left us with good sized hedge punctuated with specimen trees dotted along the run of several hundred meters. A track- way was kindly cut out for us by the farm alongside the hedge at the same time, so we can maintain the boundary more easily next time with a tractor mounted hedge cutter. A lot of work now but it should make life a lot easier in the future. These things are a doddle to do with the right kit and skilled operators, the thought of doing it all manually ourselves was scary. 

The electrician has been in all week rewiring the prop tunnel, which is now super safe and neat, but there is still so much more for him to do before we can release him back into the wild. Next week he should get stuck into replacing our failing heaters in despatch which we installed a few years ago. Each workstation has a modest overhead infrared heater to take the edge off the temperature when working through the winter and early spring. They are both thermostatically and PIR sensor controlled so they only come on when it's cold and when someone is underneath it, so keeping costs to a minimum. The infrared heaters heat the objects under them rather than the air so the fact that it is a very open environment doesn't add too much to the cost of running them. The new ones are more robust and powerful so should feel warmer but they are shared between two stations rather than one over each station, so the overall power demand isn't too great. The first batch of heaters have just arrived so this time next week we should be basking under them as the frost clears outside.

Next week see's the new tray filler and seeder being commissioned by the supplier, so hoping to get a few test trays sown and geminating by the end of the week. We have yet to hear whether the grant funding has been passed, hopefully it won't take too long, the bank balance has taken a bit of a pounding recently! The solar electrician is due in on Wednesday to assess exactly what is still needed to get the panels connected and generating, once there is a plan I'm hoping it will all fall into place, we could do with the panels working for us and not just sitting there taunting me.

This week saw two companies coincidently promoting the same health headline of eating at least 30 'plants' a week to promote good gut health. Riverford (the organic veg box scheme) and Waitrose have both picked on this interesting new approach to plant consumption, rather than the rather dull '5 a day' we have been used to. You can count all plant consumption, not just vegetables, but also grains, spuds, nuts and most excitingly for us herbs. Having a vegetarian partner does give us a head start, but we managed to get past 30 quite easily, so hopefully our innards and associated attachments are functioning well. Might be a useful promotional tool for increasing herb sales this season, check it out. Variety is the spice of life and all that.

Prices for 2025

The new price list is out for 2025. There is a small rise of approx 2% which is more or less where inflation is supposedly currently at, although sadly our cost rises are not running at quite that nice low level. Our biggest cost is labour and that increased last year by close to 10% per hour, with a further increase of close to 8% coming into force in April. External transport (carrier) costs are up 6% which illustrates increasing costs in that area, and young plant costs which also use a lot of labour are rising pretty dramatically too. We are hoping that a combination of better weather bringing in higher sales volumes and reducing waste, together with more efficiency in propagation and production after more investment in mechanisation, will help maintain some margin to reinvest again next year. The solar panels should also keep energy costs down and provide an alternative small but regular return.

 Availability list.

The spring bulbs are making their early start with several varieties already up and showing. Not a lot of bud just yet, but it won't be long.  We only have one Cyclamen coum variety this winter (Silver Leaved) this winter, but they are now producing loads of buds and colour, so looking great.

There are a few trays of Wild Primrose (P. vulgaris) in bud already, with lots more to follow over the next couple of months. In theory a late winter flurry of Erysimum bud and flowers usually gets everyone going on thoughts of spring, but this year they are already budding up! They have happily sat through the frosts we have and are still looking remarkably fresh, green and bushy. The first of many flower-heads are already in tight bud and there is even the odd flash of colour.

Happy New Year from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries