Hairy Renewables

Hi

Luckily it was slightly quieter this week, there were some good sized orders but manageable with our reduced driver numbers and short working week. We missed out slightly on a few late orders which in a normal week we could probably have squeezed in, but there were just not enough hours in the week in the end to cope with those.

Fingers crossed we might get a shower or two on Sunday, we could really do with a damping down, everywhere is so dry.

We had a few dust storms through the week when that cold wind picked up, dropping the temperatures and adding several layers to the working attire. Looks like it's warming up a bit again for a few days over the weekend, not quite warm enough for the beach, but good for getting out there and buying garden stuff.

This week was one of our three weekly bug predator deliveries, which we spread around the site earlier today. Little sachets on sticks, blister packs of pupae, bran mixes to sprinkle, tubes of mixed insect thugs to put on a stick in the propagation modules, beetles breeding buckets and sachets of nematodes for pushing through the irrigation system. This season we are having a go with some hoverfly larvae, they aren't cheap but if we can get them established they will help with aphid control. just 500 at a time covers the whole nursery. The larvae eat aphid, so we need to find some aphid for them to thrive and pupate into adults. The adults can fly and they will search out other aphid colonies in which they lay their eggs for the whole process to then repeat itself. There is a slight conundrum that we need to have aphids available for this to be an ongoing solution and we ideally don't want aphid to be too prevalent. It's a delicate balance, but it will be interesting to see if we spot more hoverflies in the tunnels over the summer, as they are apparently far less common than they used to be.

The robins in despatch have fledged, so now youngsters are crashing about, sitting in silly places and calling throughout the tunnel. I suspect they will quickly move out despite it being an area fairly predator free, but it's a fun sight at the moment.

My usual luck abounds on my major purchases, I have managed to crash the solar panel and battery store control program by doing things slightly differently to everyone else. We have state of the art battery packs, and fabulously efficient panels with a tilting mounting system, but we added it all onto the same supply as our existing three little wind turbines, and that is not very usual apparently. Everything was working far too well for the first 6 days, although fairly early on it did register a possible fault with the counters not quite adding up to the right sums. It was counting the overall consumption on site, the amount exported, the solar output and the battery charging and discharging, but it didn't add in the wind output so some of the calculations the software made just didn't add up to the computers expectations. After a few days of this the computer said 'No' and all control was lost on managing things like the battery charging and discharging. Consequently the batteries discharged into the grid and refused to recharge and we were getting some bizarre and obviously incorrect readings which didn't remotely match the real meter readings. All was turned off while the installers looked into it and now we are limping along with a bit of solar and battery and then moving over to the turbines if the wind is blowing. New software is being written for the control kit and new measuring clamps are to be fitted to the turbine cables early next week so their output can be added into the equation. Yet again, why me? I think maybe I'm trying to be too clever in mixing my Renewables, but it seemed like such a good idea at the time. We will get there in the end.

Availability list.

Herb sales are still exceeding the rate of replacements which is frustrating, but we should have our first Basils ready the week after next, barring a sudden freeze up, so summer is on the way. More to come when the growth rates pick up. Probably the last week for the spring flowering Alliums. Cristophii buds are just cracking open, and sphaerocephalon have popped up its flowering stems for its smaller more subtle flowers. Only a few left.

Summer is on the way with a couple of Bidens varieties showing well with a splash of colour, Rhodanthemums are in bud, and several Coreopsis are ready to do their thing. We have a few small batches of fresh Erysimums now in bud again, with glimpses of colour, but they will be gone in a flash. Flowers are opening on most of the Salvia nemerosa types and many of the Scabious.

The first of several batches of Tiarella (Foam Flower) are in bud. Very dainty flower heads with lots more to follow. Liatris spicata are a little way off colour but the flower stems are extending and buds just about showing. Plenty of the Leucanthemum varieties are showing their first many tight flower buds.

Camassia's are all hitting their prime with buds swelling and colouring up fast. The excellent blue Maybelle with its multiple flower stems is more prolific than most, There are limited numbers so don't hang about. The Sea Breeze Erigerons are desperate to start their long flower displays but we keep selling them just as they hint at budding up! Great garden plants.

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. 

Take care, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries