Hairy Charge

Hi. 

Looks like this might be the last blistering day for a couple of weeks if the longer-term forecast is right. What a relief that would be, the tunnels have been unbearable for the last couple of days. At the moment we actually have light rain in the forecast for 3 days next week and temperatures at more usual summer heights of 22 – 25C, although whether it happens is another thing. Just a drop in temperature would be good, but for the ground to get some meaningful moisture added could be transformative to the gardens and hopefully open up the gardener’s wallets again. We live in hope. 

The electric van has been delivering all of this week, which is great. Most charging has been from our own solar output, so very green, and good value if I conveniently forget the cost of installing it all. The drivers are getting used to the nuances of EV life, but there have still been a few dramas making life more exciting than necessary. Danny is always up for a challenge and went out for the first time this week and he certainly picked up range anxiety that day. We had discussed only charging the van at the forecourt fast-chargers with enough to get home, so we can mostly charge here, and I suggested returning with about 20% in store to alleviate any anxiety about getting back. He had one successful charge in London which he worked out would be enough to get home, but only just! His problems came when the charge got down to 10% and the mileage estimate on the van display disappeared. Although it looked like he would make it with a couple of miles to spare at the point when it disappeared, confidence dropped and anxiety took its place. The first garage he passed didn’t have chargers, so he diverted to find another. The next one did, but not many, and he couldn’t find them on the large site so he headed for the huge Instavolt site just 2 miles down the road from us, for a quick zap and go. According to Carolines app he had just 1% left at this point, a bit too close for comfort! With all the clever tech we were able to follow his trials live online and tried to phone him to help, but his phone had run low on power too! Thankfully his second day went more smoothly. 

Last weeks master-plan to move over to peat-free glue-plugs rather than loose-fill modules for our propagation work has already hit the buffers. The trays wouldn’t pass through the seed sowing machine without a complete refurb. The next possibility investigated was to use the same trays we already use and they would fill them with their glue-plugs. One of the biggest costs, after the very high cost of the reusable trays themselves, is the transport of the trays to and from the UK and Holland. Firstly, there are two trips for each load, if we are to reuse the trays, and secondly the legs on the trays means you are only transporting half the number of modules per pallet and a lot of empty space. This added up to a quadrupling on transport cost, which was already very high, and blew the whole thing out of the water. It’s back to the drawing board. 

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Availability list.

It’s time for the autumn flowering Cyclamen hederifolium to fly the flag. They are raring to go with verdant growth and already flashing colour, with plenty more bud to come. We have a rose form and a white, both look good although the rose is currently slightly chunkier. We sold out of these very early last year, so I’ve potted a few extra this time. Don’t hold back! We have a lovely compact batch of Verbena Lollipop now in bud. Just in case you haven’t had enough sunshine this summer, our summery yellow Kniphofia citrina is budding up nicely. Flowering all summer long, the Gaura Rosy Jane (bicolour) and Whirling Butterflies (White) are looking great. Brightly coloured Helenium Hayday is available in multiple colours. It is very compact in its first year but really comes into its own in year two with absolutely masses of long-lasting flowers on taller sturdy stems. A class act in the garden border. Blue and white varieties of Platycodon are looking great, with colour and plenty of bud. We have some Persicaria in bud as well as the ever-popular Nepeta Kitten Around is very compact with smaller flowers, while Walkers Low, despite its name, is taller and more vigorous.  We have a new Geranium on the nursery this summer. Jolly Bee’s had always been too expensive for us to grow in the past, but module prices for this one have dipped low enough this season for us to lash out on a few. Slightly scrambly in habit, it’s mid-blue large flowers just go on and on. A cracker. Small and compact the Lewisia Elise have plenty of bud already and will flower all summer long. We already have several Asters in bud, which are usually something we associate with late summer!  Late summer flowering  Goldsturm are producing buds now. A very hardy Rudbeckia which we have cut back and regrown to create shorter flower stems than usual, but once planted it romps away, a garden classic. We still have plenty of summer flowering stock looking very well. A range of different types of Salvia’s, many in bud, Osteospermum Tresco Purple and Penstemon Garnet. Another later summer range are the mini garden Chrysanthemums which are already showing early tight bud. We have plenty of Scabiosa in bud in a range of colours, another long flowering summer star. 

Take care out there, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries. 

Hairy hope

Hi. 

Into another summer month and suddenly Autumn seems to be rushing towards us, although there still looks like plenty of summer heat is still to come down here, over the next week or two. Thankfully our replacement sprinkler nozzles arrived today, ahead of schedule, so I have started installing them in the worst affected tunnels first. Hope to finish tomorrow before the higher temperatures return, but I suspect I might have to order a few more to get the lines sensibly set up with either all working older nozzles or all new ones. This way it should be easier to replace the older ones if the issue returns, assuming it will be the older ones that fail. Who knows what’s going on, certainly not me. Our new acid tank had all it’s seals and gaskets replaced today, so we are all set up for hopefully 7 years of worry-free acidification. It turned out to be an easier update than the engineers expecting so they weren’t here too long and they managed to keep any vapours contain within the tank and pipework. 

In a difficult season we have to take what joy we can in the little victories. This week we overcame a problem we have had hanging around for several years. We have a couple of Danish trolley trailers that carry our trolleys around the nursery picking up orders and distributing the potting output, and both have very heavy drop-down ramps for loading and unloading. Originally, they had some hefty springs to help reduce the effort involved but they perished long ago. We have had a series of rather inadequate replacements over the years as we struggled to find the right type, weight and size to do the job well. They have all helped but were never ideal. After another spring breakage the chaps found a couple of springs on a very old bigger trailer which proved to be perfect for the job, if a little aged in appearance. Know the feeling. After years of searching on the web I manged to pick the right word combination, ‘Trailer ramp springs’, in Google and found some identical new ones from just down the road. Very reasonably priced, they arrived today and look perfect. At last, I got something right! 

It’s that time of year when we have to juggle despatch, plant maintenance, tunnel clearance and potting. We always think that after a busy Spring the summer will be more relaxed, but in fact I think it’s worse, especially when the weather is so challenging to be working in tunnels. Productivity takes a dip, lots of people disappear on well earned holidays and alike, and suddenly we struggle to find the time to get all the work done in the ideal time frame. This year hasn’t helped with lower sales than expected, meaning more stock on the ground to look after, resulting in less space to get the next batches potted into. Lower sales ends up creating higher ongoing costs rather than less which is frustrating. 

I have been investigating new propagation trays this week in an effort to improve our seed sowing success rates. We made great strides last season improving our loose-fill mix for our own modules trays and this seasons output has been much more reliable, but by no means perfect. There are still some plants that just don’t like the loose fill peat-free mixes available. Meanwhile we have had great success over many years with a peat-free glue plug we import from Holland that we used initially for our micro-propagation weaning. I also used them for several years hand sowing herbs and for doing a few cuttings into. This summer we have done a much wider cuttings range, very successfully, under the new mist unit, but the module size is a bit too big for efficient and economic use of space. We have now settled on a slightly smaller module size which means the trays hold 160 units rather than 104 and I think this will be perfect to cover most of our propagation needs next year. 

All I need to do now is organise the seed sowing machine makers to knock me up a new dibber bar, seed delivery bar and nozzle bar to fit the new tray size and we will be away. I’m have a nagging feeling that those fairly simple but precisely engineered parts for the machine will be scarily expensive, but the longer term return of more efficient output will eventually pay it back, in theory. 

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Availability list. 

Bue and white varieties of Platycodon are looking great, with colour and plenty of bud. 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. 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. A couple of the summer flowering Crocosmia are now in bud/flower, 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. 

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. There are some super Sage, both Green and Purple and Rosemary too. 

Take care out there, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries. 

Hi

Just a quick one as it is already nearly dinner time. Another hectic and hot week. Slightly easier other than yesterday and possibly a shower or two over the weekend. Our drivers were excited to see some rain on their travels today, even Basingstoke had a heavy downfall, but we just had a few spots, not even enough to raise that lovely ‘just rained’ earthy scent (called petrichor, just in case you want to bring it up in casual conversation!). Still pleasantly busy on sales despite the drought and heat which is keeping us n our toes. We are still very light-handed at the moment, which means we aren’t getting through as many jobs as I would like. There is so much juggling of space, trimming and moving plants to do after the orders are completed that the potting machine didn’t even get started until after lunch on Thursday.

 Then there are all the unexpected challenges that pop up to throw a spanner in the works. This week it was a two-pronged attack. The acid storage tank that was installed just over a year ago had a visit from the manufacturer to replace the measuring float which had come apart. On closer inspection the engineer found the vapour gaskets were showing signs of deterioration which was a worry. On investigation he found that they had fitted the wrong gaskets for our strength of acid, their fault not mine. All safe at the moment, but an urgent replacement job is on the cards. Very frustrating as the purchaser of the unit, as we paid 4 times the price we paid for the same kit 8 years before, and what do you get for all that extra cost? Certainly not a better product. We have been investigating a problem with the irrigation spray-lines over the past few weeks where the mini sprinklers are not all rotating reliably, they keep getting stuck. Luckily the sand-beds under the plants even out the water spread to a degree, but considering we replaced the entire lot last summer to obtain a more even water distribution it’s another challenging puzzle. I have been cleaning nozzles in vinegar, blowing them out with compressed air, swapping nozzles about between positions and tunnels, just trying to nail down a solution. The bizarre thing is the tunnels vary in how much they are affected. About a third of them are untouched and work very well, one third have issues with about half the nozzles in the line and in the last third virtually every nozzle is misbehaving. Both myself and the nozzle supplier now think it may be a biofilm issue. We have been trying to boost the plants health and their capacity to fight off pests and diseases so we can further reduce the need to introduce so many predators or as a last resort spray, by applying a mix of various bio-supplements through the irrigation system. It looks like these additives have left us with a thin smear of biofilm forming inside the pipework and on the sprinkler parts.  For the moment I am buying 1,200 new sprinkler heads, just to get everything working properly, and then we will need to find a solution to preventing and removing the unwanted biofilm. We may have a solution on hand, but only time will tell. It would be a shame to stop the supplements as they seem to be helping, but one way or another we need to sort it out, especially when the crops are under the pressure of seemingly endless heat and no rain and don’t appreciate erratic distribution. 

The electric van seems to be getting slightly better on its range capacity, although sometimes it’s just too clever for its own good. One of our drivers missed getting through a timed gate opening this week because it refused to move off when he got into the cab. Turning it off and on again naturally cured it but the gate was shut by this time! Very proud of one of our drivers (Andy) who is off for the next couple of weeks as he is umpiring in the hockey veteran’s world cup, being held in Holland and Belgium. He did the same a few years ago and I believe he actually umpired the final in one of the age categories. I’m not very good with rules generally, so definitely not a job for me,  

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. 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. 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. 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. There are some super Sage, both Green and Purple and Rosemary too. 

Take care out there, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries. 

Hairy charge

Hi.

Thankfully there are signs of a slight cooling over the coming weekend, but it will be warmer again during the following week. Possible showers in a week’s time, yes please! Not sure if I am going to be able to cope with this if it does become the norm, it is just too challenging for an old fart more used to hot weather meaning 25C. Luckily, I have been in air-conditioned comfort all day as Caroline and I took the electric ID3 up to Lincoln to collect our new electric Renault 4 tonne delivery van. Just 2 months late, it still wasn’t finished when we arrived! 

Good job we collected it ourselves as there were a few little additions we had requested on top of their standard product. Present were the spare wheel (not standard issue these days, but very useful and time saving if you have a puncture) and an extra piece of rachet bar to hold the spare wheel in place, Missing were the side rails on the ramp, which stop the trolley wheels going off the ramp edge when loading and unloading, and the registration plates needed for the updated registration number we ordered but they were unable to sot out before collection. All promised on numerous occasions, remembered when pointed out and, to be fair, swiftly put right while we waited. 

They had a lovely coffee machine, so we were well pumped-up by the time all was ready! We had a full charge in the van, which in theory would have just about got us home, but it was going to be a bit tight so decided to add a bit while we recharged the VW, which also needed a top up. Pulled into the service station and being a good boy, I followed the signs to the van and lorry parking which unfortunately left me in a position where I couldn’t actually get to the chargers, the exit led straight back onto the M1. Caroline meanwhile found a super quick charger which took just 10 minutes to charge enough to get home. Grabbed a sandwich and cold drink and moved onto the next service station (Watford Gap), No good, tiny parking spaces by the chargers, too short for the van. Onto the next and getting slightly anxious as to how difficult this was all going to be, only to find a row of nice new fast chargers with good sized spaces. Hurrah. Out came the new electric ‘fuel card’ to try out for the first time and waved it in front of the card reader. The card screen was so scratched we couldn’t read it in the bright sun, but noises were emitting from the charger and on checking the van display it was charging fine and very quickly. No idea what we rate we paid as there was no display to physically see unless we downloaded a special app. Not to worry, in 15 minutes I was ready to go again. Left the service station without realising I had picked the wrong exit back onto the M1 instead of the A45. It’s all just too exciting. Sat-nav got me sorted at the next junction, but Caroline still hadn’t realised what was going on until she reached the next one along. As a consequence, I beat her home despite being restricted to 56 mph. Now it’s charging up, nearly for free, on our nursery charger and ready for the tracker and camera fitting tomorrow. We might get it on the road next week, although there are some ‘words’ being applied to the side at some point and we must take it off the road for a day or two when the reg number officially changes. In the end it should be on the road a lot, we have to start saving on fuel costs asap after a very challenging year. 

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. 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. Tarragon is back and the Mints have recovered nicely too. There are some super Sage, both Green and Purple. 

Take care out there, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries. 

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. 

Hairy new van

 Hi. 

Another month flashes by and it’s Wimbledon already. The never-ending rounds of football continue, which makes it feel still like spring sometimes. We are now well into the knockout stages of the world cup and all looks ok so far with both my sweepstake teams still involved and England too, but only by the skin of their teeth. Hopefully the next game goes well although I’m not sure I will be able to keep awake until 1.00 in the morning to watch it, we’ll see. 

We are pressing on with next seasons potting, clearing the spring crops where we can, giving the tunnels a spring clean and filling them up again with firstly the slower growing overwintered crops. The second part of our main Dutch module delivery arrives next week which sees the back of most of the imports for the year, other than a few bulbs in the Autumn. Then it’s onto the faster growing UK and home-grown crops to fill up the nursery again ready for whatever 2027 holds. Our next container of pots arrives shortly which I think leaves one more to come in the Autumn. 

Sadly, as fast as the plant sales income arrives it disappears again, we don’t seem to be able to give it a nice long summer holiday in our bank account to give it a healthy glow, blink and you miss it! Our electric van has been delayed again so it will be another couple of weeks before we get hold of it. Very frustrating, but we have seen some pictures to check it has been put together as expected. I think we are all agreed it is, externally, one of the ugliest van cabs we have seen! 

It’s possible the perspective of the image they sent me exaggerates the size of the nose somewhat, but I have been using that argument myself all my life and never got anywhere. We hired a Renault Master van in the summer and thought then what a beast it looked, so it shouldn’t have been too much of a surprise really. I’m sure we will get used to it and it’s what’s under the bonnet that really counts, that’s what I say. It’s a shame in a way that Renault have not made it more visually appealing, they really hit the right mark with their electric Renault 5, which is a very funky car, internally, externally and in performance. Caroline is really pleased with hers, so much so I have only been allowed to drive it once. I’m just not cool enough! 

I don’t want to jinx tomorrow’s special delivery, but we are due to receive our replacement emergency generator at long last, making our ancient one redundant. If we can then wrestle our electrician back onto site, we can complete our electric upgrade started back in April. There will be two new EV chargers, upgraded consumer units in the barn and main electric shed which means all the site will be automatically backed up with power from the new generator should we find ourselves cut off, which does happen here quite a lot. A bit more of a marathon than expected but what’s new there, I know they can see me coming. 

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. 

Plant growth is rampant, plenty of bud and colour to tug open those purse strings. The super popular Nemesia Wisley Vanilla is back on the list and there are more follow-on batches coming too.  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!  The early summer flowering Allium Millenium is now producing bud. It’s a cracker, much tidier foliage and habit than the spring flowering Alliums, and it flowers for longer too. There are some cracking Verbena’s Lolliop ready to go. Don’t miss out on this very popular line. A couple of the summer flowering Crocosmia are now in bud, The taller and very red Lucifer and the more compact golden yellow George Davidson. Emberglow, another red but shorter than Lucifer, is only a week or so away from bud showing too. Summer must be here with bud on several of the Agapanthus varieties. 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, Bidens and the Salvia’s too are now showing plenty of bud and now a bit of colour too. Oxalis is back on the list and in bud, after we gave it the Chelsea Chop just short time ago. We cut them right back to compost and there now back on show again, looking great. 

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. 

Hairy heatwave

Hi. 

That was a hot one. Just a couple more days to go and we can look forward to cooler temperatures and the odd shower, which hopefully won’t be too heavy. Our thermometer was registering 37C in the shade over the last couple of days and in the prop tunnel it peaked today at 39.7C. The mist unit in there also maintains a high humidity, to keep the rooting cuttings turgid, which adds to the feeling of uncontrollable heat gain, which is quite frightening if you are in there too long. Naturally we had to give up working on cutting production other than a few hours earlier in the week, in fact it was a pretty disrupted week all round, with earlier starts to the day and very early finishes, except for those of us lucky enough to be able to retire to the relative comfort of the air-con in the office! That was still running at 27C+ at times when the window had to be opened and extractor fan turned on to vent out the printing vapours. 

Although more comfortable, we did feel a bit left out, having started at 6.30 we were still here 12 hours later when most others had retired home at lunchtime.  Although orders had been supressed by the heat, we did manage to clear some space to squeeze in a bit of potting. The fans and shading we installed in the potting tunnel and despatch a few years ago come into their own in weather like this, making the mornings bearable and preventing productivity from disappearing down the drain altogether. We still very much rely on the excellent toughest members of the team who seem to relish the heat, because without them picking up the orders, clearing and scraping the very hot production tunnels, putting plants down and watering them in, we would be sunk.  

The lower number of practical jobs we could actually attempt this week meant we couldn’t sensibly provide work for everyone all the time, so we are also grateful to those who opted to reduce their hours or take days off, as we knew they could keep safe and be more comfortable at home. In a way these heatwaves are now virtually the same as ‘snow days’ in the winter, when we end up replying on those brave enough and tough enough to get into work to continue to function, while others take extra time off to stay safe and cosy by the fire. 

There is a possibility me may collect the new electric delivery van next week, it has all gone a bit quiet, but it is paid for and insured, so we must be close. We are going to try something a bit different with this van and a couple of the others too if it works out ok. We are having some signwriting designed to stick on the van to say who we are and maybe show what we do, then you will be able to see it is us from further away, get even more excited about your delivery and get that kettle on! 

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Availability list.

Plant growth is rampant, plenty of bud and colour to tug open those purse strings. The super popular Nemesia Wisley Vanilla is back on the list and there are more follow-on batches coming too.  Small and compact the Lewisia Elise have plenty of bud already and will flower all summer long. The ever-popular Erigeron karv. Stallone has loads of bud and flower, ready for a summer full of pretty little daisy flowers. 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!  The early summer flowering Allium Millenium is now producing bud. It’s a cracker, much tidier foliage and habit than the spring flowering Alliums, and it flowers for longer too. There are some cracking Verbena’s Lolliop ready to go. Don’t miss out on this very popular line. Coreopsis are now in bud in a great range of colours. A couple of the summer flowering Crocosmia are now in bud, The taller and very red Lucifer and the more compact golden yellow George Davidson. Emberglow, another red but shorter than Lucifer, is only a week or so away from bud showing too. Summer must be here with bud on several of the Agapanthus varieties. 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, Bidens and the Salvia’s too are now showing plenty of bud and now a bit of colour too. Oxalis Iron Cross is back on the list and in bud, after we gave it the Chelsea Chop just short time ago. We cut them right back to compost and there now back on show again, looking great. Phlox paniculata varieties are showing bud on super strong stems, get them quick before they go. 

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. Strawberries are looking great, especially those showing colour. Tarragon is back and the Mints have recovered nicely too. 

Best wishes from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.