Hairy New Year

Hi

Winter has arrived with a spectacular hard frost this morning and clear blue skies. Just hoping we miss the worst of the snow that is on the way. It's so great to see the sun again which seems to have been in short supply recently, we can put up with a few days of low temperatures as long as the wind stays light and sun comes up. The early mornings are a bit of a challenge trying not to damage any green leaved frozen stock, while we continue to cut stock back ready for the spring, and keeping the extremities from getting too cold and painful. We usually have a few more vigorous jobs or things to tidy up in the heated tunnel for the coldest parts of the day, but layers is the key, as well as the log burner in despatch for a warm up during breaks.

Just a handful of people in this week after the festive break, the big return should happen on Monday assuming there aren't too many off ill. There seem to be a lot of bugs about at the moment, I have only just shaken off mine that started on the first day of my holiday on Nov 1st, but I got off lightly compared with many, so I'm counting my blessings and thankful for taking the flu and covid jabs offered to the frail and elderly back in the Autumn. We have had the electrician back this week rewiring a poorly laminar ait flow cabinet in the lab, rewiring the heated prop tunnel heater fans and removing a faulty motor for a refurbishment, all part of a major electrical tidy up to get the new year off to an efficient and safe start.

After a two month wait we have also had the climate control computer replaced this week. The old one was over 30 years old, so a little past it's sell by date and had been seriously misbehaving and erratic in its operation for a while. Not the sort of control system you need as we try to keep valuable propagation material rooting and growing through the colder parts of the winter. I was a little apprehensive about the cost of the new one and whether it would be much of an improvement on the old one, but I needn't have worried, it has quite a lot of very useful upgrades. Newly installed manual override switches for the heat circulation pumps and fan assisted heaters make it all much more adaptable in an emergency, the under-floor heating is reinstalled and working as are all the necessary temperature and humidity sensors, the data storage and displays are much more informative, and best of all, the circulation pumps are now programmed to only come on during periods of heating demand. This change alone will save us on oil consumption as the hot water will not be losing heat as it circulates around the distribution pipes and electric use running the pumps 24/7.

We did manage a bit of a break over Christmas with some fairly bland weather helping keep nursery anxiety at bay. Gales a few days ago did raise a few questions, but all was well with virtually no damage spotted so far. There was the usual lovely big family Christmas day down at the farm, we were missing a few youngsters, which helped the post meal doze but had both members of the ancient generation at the table which was great to see. There were a few other very welcome visitors over the week which kept us on our toes and helped clear a few chores with all those extra hands. A taste of country life for the more townie visitors saw several chainsaw and log splitting sessions building up the log store nicely and clearing most of the remaining tree stock cut back last winter. We also had a contingent on painting duties in the refurbished conservatory, a fresh dry skim of plaster and all the woodwork to be coated, a big job and still a bit to do, but a great start. Fun for all.

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

I am just waiting to see if there is any plant reaction to the cold snap before updating the lists, but here are a few tasters. We only have one Cyclamen coum variety this winter (Silver Leaved) but they are now producing loads of buds and colour. 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 few 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.