Hairy Electrics

Hi

It's all go between the rain storms, as we lurch from cold to hot and rain to blazing sunshine. Much of the stock is still growing nicely so those late potted batches of plants I was a bit anxious about are looking good, much to my relief.

The bulbs arrived this afternoon, a couple of weeks later than usual, so it will be all hands to the potting machine next week to get them planted and watered in. It's a challenging job with lots of extra hands involved in getting the right number of bulbs, the right way up and at the right depth before topping up the pot with compost and then mulched, before setting down in the tunnels. A few of the more delicious varieties will be kept on the danish trolleys to keep them out of reach of the mice that, given the chance, will decimate a crop in a moment. We will put those down on the beds when they are rooted, beginning to shoot and harder to dig up. I have to hold off on all ideas of fast efficient potting when these get done, there are frightening numbers of bodies involved and a degree of organised chaos. Best if I just let them get on with it and walk away, there are still plenty more brambles for me to attack with my mattock.

As the prospect of the colder weather looms we have been preparing the prop tunnel with all its heating and lighting kit and controls, and naturally it all came apart in my hands, as is the way with these things. The tunnel itself looks great, lovely clean beds and new clear inflated twin skin covers all looking very smart, but over the past few weeks the control computer has been getting increasingly erratic throwing regular wobblies (technical speak) and turning itself off and on again, losing all the information about temperatures and timings, which is a bit critical when you are trying to grow susceptible tender plants in the winter. A man was summoned, opened the computer up and checked the backup battery, which was the suspected culprit, but all was well with that. He checked for loose wires and pulled a few cables out and pushed them back again declaring the whole thing a write off. So I'm stood there thinking that these things don't last two seconds anymore, we didn't fit it that long ago. Apparently it was 1990, so although that still seems quite recent to me, it is well past it's sell by date and of course no parts are available for repairs anymore, so a new one would have to be made. I was braced for a fairly hefty quote and wasn't disappointed, but worst of all was the predicted January fitting date, how would we control the heating until then? Anyway we might get away with it as they are hoping to squeeze us in a bit earlier and after all that cable removal and reinsertion, the old one appears to have cured itself! I was tempted to cancel the new one but realistically we have to update it, if it goes wrong at a critical time we could lose a lot of valuable stock.

The time clock controlling the grow-lights stopped turning, so although it can turn the lights on and off, it can't keep the correct time, two of the LED grow-lights have blown and a heater fan is tripping out the main trip switch if I turn it on, so the electrician is coming by to put all that right and then we will be ready for winter.

Most of the crew are out in the tunnels now, tidying up plants, cutting back some stock and getting the liverwort suppressing mulch applied. It takes a while but the results can be very satisfying. Lots of tidy rows of tidy plants, ready and waiting for spring sales action. It will take us most of the winter to plough through it all, but it saves so much time in despatch in the spring if the plants are already pre-prepared and liverwort free. Some days this week it was definitely shirt sleeve work, but in the depths of winter it can be a bit of a battle, but it's a job that has to be done.

The old meter shed roof is due for removal on Tuesday, by a specialist asbestos man, and hopefully the new fancy one will be installed by us by the end of the day. What could possibly go wrong with that? I'll let you know next week.

End of season wooden Box returns

We have already collected over 75% of our empty wooden boxes from many sites and will continue to do so over the next few weeks. If you have empty boxes ready to go please do drop us a line and we will pop in when next in the area. 

Availability list.

Unfortunately after a poor seed harvest we only have one Cyclamen coum variety this winter (Silver Leaved) and they are just beginning to produce the very occasional flower. They will go on right through until April so no rush! The other winter star is the Helleborus range, a few varieties already showing signs of flowering but a bit early for most. Good strong plants with plenty of potential.

Summer potted Phlox subulata varieties are having a quick flowering flush. Not sure for how long but looking pretty at the moment. Erigeron Stallone are still doing their thing, flower and bud will keep coming until they are battered too much by winter frosts. We have had them in flower at Christmas before now, although it does depend on the weather and anything could happen there! Summer colour is still there with Gaura Rosy Jane and its bicolour flowers plus the lovely delicate white Whirling Butterflies, 

Best wishes from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.