Morning
We missed out a bit on the rain over the last week. We've had a splash but not much more, so we would like to request some more please. It doesn't seem to have dented plant sales, we were as busy this week as we were during the pre bank holiday week, which is great. With four days in the week not much else has got done so far, but the potting compost pile is quite small so it will only see us through a day's potting anyway so that works out ok. We have a fresh batch being delivered early next week so we don't need to panic for machine time or production space until then. I have already started to accumulate a few batches of plants that will need the longer term fertilisers in the next mix, to see them happily through the winter. It seems very early to be potting for next winter and spring but the sooner we start the bigger the plants will be when the new season gets underway.
In our constant drive to improve stuff we did an experiment with the overhead irrigation lines last weekend. We struggle to get an even distribution of water through the existing sprinklers over the whole bed and although once the plants are established in the pot, the sand-beds will even out the spread pretty well, during the early stages of growth patches in between sprinklers can dry out and cause big size variations. Sunny windy conditions particularly highlight this disappointing distribution and so I was determined to try some radical changes. The theory is to double the number of nozzles in the line, so that there are far more overlapping areas and nowhere is far from a nozzle or three. We are downsizing the output of each nozzle a bit by changing an internal part, which means the pressure in the line can be maintained, but the spread of each nozzle is very similar to the old one. The amount of water applied per line per minute is higher because of the extra nozzles, so the running time is lowered which should make programming easier to time. Tested out the theory over the holiday weekend by converting one line, fitting pressure gauges and checking the distribution patterns, and it worked a treat. I went ahead and converted another two lines, So that is three done out of 71 so not a big job really! I have now ordered 2,500 25mm PVC pipe joiners. a load of PVC pipe, plenty of glue and thousands of sprinkler parts and cable ties, installed a bench drill to drill the pipe accurately and avoid leaks, and special pipe cutters to make the thousands of clean square cuts needed to fit it all together. This will be an extra summer job, so as we clear the beds we install the updates, before potting onto the bed again for the winter. I suspect it will stretch well into the autumn although I am of course hoping for quicker. It is a lot of hours work, firstly making up the sprinkler inserts and then cutting and fitting to the existing pipes but well worth it if we can get more consistent crops, fewer losses and reduce summer stress levels. Loads of cake this week with Caroline's birthday on Wednesday, what a great day, dawn to dusk nursery and pizza for tea.
My big chocolate collection went down a treat, together with a bumper pack of gift wrapped Solpadine to soften the migraine afterwards!
Availability list.
The increasingly popular less hardy Salvia varieties are showing great promise. Love and Wishes is well into bud, it just can't wait to flower! The Salvito Scarlet and Mauve, plus the Lip's series are also showing their first buds of the endless supply to come.
The Garden Pinks are peaking in their bud production, no colour yet but loads of potential. We just have the one crop this spring so get them while you can. The Dianthus Scent First series smell delicious, compact and bushy they make a lovely set. Then we have our two scented old school varieties, Doris and Gran's Favourite, both a little taller and more typical of traditional cottage garden types.
Oxalis are looking great with the first flowers just opening. Two very different varieties, the purple leaved triangularis with its pale pink flowers and the two tone leaved Iron Cross with the deep pink blooms.
Nemesia Wisley Vanilla is back on the list again, the second of several batches we have coming along. I obviously didn't make the first batch big enough as it only lasted a week with its heady vanilla scent. I'll try harder next year. Summer is well on the way with Bidens Effrans Gold showing particularly well with a strong splash of gold flower. Rhodanthemums are in bud, and several Coreopsis are ready to do their thing.
Strong bushy Osteospermum Tresco Purple are now budding up nicely. More to come so no need to overdo it straight away. Liatris spicata are a little way off colour but the flower stems are extending and buds just about showing. Digitalis Arctic Fox Rose is different but looking smart and just beginning to elongate in the stem ready to produce its first flower stem. Well on the way to flowering.
Our massive Hosta range is looking great with leaves now unfurled and showing off nicely. Big range of leaf colours and sizes all in good looking condition with no slugs yet and no late frosts to mess up the early leaves. A nice range of the compact Helenium Hay Day series are just about ready and although I haven't marked them all as being in bud, there are a few showing.
Take care, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.
