Hairy Wagon Wheels

Hi

Another short week as I swanned off to Wisley for another sustainability workshop on Wednesday, this time run by ICL who manufacture some lovely peat-free composts. It was a fairly general presentation highlighting what they did and what products might be in the pipeline that will help everyone improve their sustainable production systems. Although a lot of presentations at these sort of events tends to wash over me as my mind drifts away, I did manage to make some progress with the module compost problems we had been having. I took a little report with me, where I had recorded my findings on the poor germination and growing-on of our slower germinating perennials and showed it to the technical chaps at the event.

They were surprisingly receptive to my rather unprofessional report and were sure that they could make us a module mix that would overcome the problems I had highlighted. (see last week's notes for more info!) There was also a presentation on a compost wetter they have which could help peat-free composts from drying out quite so fast and also assist with re-wetting if they do dry out. Although we don't suffer too much with watering issues on our site, other than battling with the system itself, I know the retail environment isn't always as well set up for perfect growing conditions, so if we are able to add this product to the compost at dispatch it could improve water retention for several weeks in the plant sales areas. Together with the new capillary mats we are looking to insert into all trays next year, we may be able to make plant maintenance as little easier in the hot weather. This is bound to bring on the wettest spring and summer on record I know, but it does future proof us a bit against the climate changes that are happening all too quickly.

We've made a start on tidying the solar panel site over the last week. The whole installation project took several months longer than anticipated and didn't actually finish until late April, by which time we were far too busy on the nursery to finish off the pretty bits. We've now filled the last of the cable trenches and spread most of the wood chips we generated when cutting back the nursery windbreak, under the panels. The strips between are nearly cleared of debris and will then be raked over for chalk-land grass seed sowing, as part of the site biodiversity improvement.

The panels themselves have just been moved to their winter tilted position of 60 degrees which looks very upright. The days are obviously shorter now but I did notice that on a sunny day they are still generating quite close to their maximum output at midday which is a good indication that the more upright winter position is still pretty productive. Unsurprisingly they don't produce very much when it's as cloudy and grey as it has been most of this week, but you can't win them all. It took about 20 minutes to adjust the tilt on all 120 panels, a small price to pay for squeezing out up to 40% more winter output.

It's coming up to wind turbine servicing time and the realisation that we are already 14 years through our 20 years of anticipated output. Where does the time go, it only seems like yesterday I was panicking at the size of the turbines as they were being hoisted up. We should be able to keep generating after the 20 year birthday, but only realistically if the running costs don't surpass the combined income and savings. This is gradually getting more difficult to gauge with pretty low returns for exported power (about 6p per unit) with the cost of imported energy at 29p. If we can use more of the generated power ourselves we can justify keeping them going, but if we export most of it the return is marginal, especially if you have any breakdowns or repairs needing to be done. Now we have the solar and the wind together our imported energy costs are tiny, which is great, but at the same time the standing charge and capacity charge (another monthly charge) have shot up in price. We are now paying about £4,000 a year on these and next year I have been told that the capacity charge alone is going to rise by another £1,500. This means that we will be paying close to £6,000 just to have a supply, before any energy use charges are added. I'm getting very old, everything seems to cost so much these days and Wagon Wheels are so small! 

Wooden box collecting has started

We are already well underway collecting up our reusable wooden boxes ready for cleaning, drying and repair if needed, before they go into winter storage. If you have any ready to go just drop us a line and we will pick them up when next in your area. It may take a week or two to get round but we will get there eventually. We try to put together a good number of collections on each trip as it is always painful sending out the van without any paying cargo, but each tray does cost £10 to replace so it does pay for us to make the effort.

Availability list.

Get ready for late winter flowers by planting our Helleborus range now. Christmas Carol is showing some bud already and H. orientalis Halcyon Early Red has plenty of bud and some red colour too. Cyclamen coum are coming on quickly. A winter and spring flowering form, the first odd flower is already now showing. This selection is a champion winter performer, very hardy and just keeps on endlessly flowering, usually from November through to March and April.

Most other late flowering stock has just the remnants of colour showing, so I can no longer really mark them up as being in bud and flower as I'm not sure how much longer they will show themselves nicely.

Take care, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.