Hairy Christmas!

Hi

Santa has come early, leaving us with a large pallet of organic DCM top dressing fertiliser, 10 pallets of capillary matting, enough for 12,000 boxes, and several containers of wetting agent, all in preparation for our 2026 gift to all our retailers, a longer lasting shelf life for your Hairy Pots. Unfortunately he has left a hefty invoice or two and was too busy to cut up the matting into the small mats we need. We are however now ready to roll in the New Year, with one pallet of 1,200 mats already cut up with hopefully another one on the cards for next week.

The mat cutting itself isn't too bad, the rotary cutter I bought slices through beautifully, although I am going to have to invest in some knee pads. The first 3 cuts are along the full length of the 25m rolls, cutting the big roll into tray width mini rolls and this is all done on the concrete floor. I was hoping the matting was cushioned enough to make it comfortable crawling and cutting, and although I managed it for most of the day, my knees were distinctly purple when the trousers descended at bedtime. Once cut into mini rolls they mount on a giant toilet roll holder we knocked up on a bench top, and unroll them at a comfortable height for the final cuts. Only 9 more pallets to go!

I hope all your Christmas budgets and plans have all worked out ok, it has certainly been another up and down period with wild weather patterns and mixed economic news, but hopefully things are looking a bit brighter for the coming year. Time will tell. We are certainly looking forward to another exciting year with a few changes on the cards over next few months but this time without spending too much of the pension fund! Last winter's investments like the solar and battery installation are going well, the seed sowing kit promises extra production efficiency next year and I can't find too much more to spend on upgrading the electrics. The overdraft was secured for the winter and next season this week and the bank manager was certainly pleased that I was reigning back a bit. Just a computer upgrade to do before the season starts in earnest and what could possibly go wrong with that?

Have a great Christmas and be cool.

Summary of the improvements to shelf life for 2026

We are introducing three major changes next year in how we prepare our plants for delivery to retailers. We are aware that some sites struggle to maintain the quality of our plants once they arrive on the retail plant sales areas. The plants thrive over long periods when kept here on the nursery, the irrigation is pretty accurate and applied in a timely manner in the correct volumes, and the nutrition levels are set to give long lasting healthy growth. But once we set them free, the real world isn't always so kind to them. As I have mentioned previously peat-free compost mixes struggle to hold onto as much water as peat and also don't grip the nutrients as tightly either. When added to the extra breathability of our Hairy Pots, quicker drying out can be an issue, especially if the ideal of 'little and often' applications of water is not a practical option. When the plants dry out they then tend to get over watered which flushes out the available nutrients resulting in premature deterioration in condition. To help reduce these stresses and provide a longer lasting 'looking good' shelf life we are doing the following;

1/ Adding a reusable, recycled wool capillary mat in the bottom of each tray which will hold onto extra water for the plants to take up. These are expensive and will need to be returned for reuse with the boxes.

2/ Adding extra wetting agent at despatch to allow the compost to hold onto more water and rewet more easily if dry.

3/ Adding a dose of organic slow release feed as a top dressing to compensate for any leaching of nutrients.

It will be interesting to see what a difference these measures will take over the coming season, hopefully it will lead to more sales all round.

Prices for 2026.

As all years seem to be, it's been a challenging one, with one big increase in particular adding to our costs, on top of all the usual inflation+ pressures on virtually all materials and young plant costs. I know it's the same for everyone, but the 10% addition to labour costs, made up of the minimum wage increases and higher NI payments, has hit us hard. Labour is far and away our biggest cost and although we try to be more efficient year on year, it is impossible to keep pace with such big changes. We have increased prices by just 5p per pot, which is a little under 2%.

Availability list.

Get ready for winter flowers by stocking up on our Helleborus range. Christmas Carol is showing some bud already and H. orientalis Halcyon Early Red is looking really good with bud and some red colour showing too.

Cyclamen coum are coming on quickly. A winter and spring flowering form, the first few flowers are already showing with heaps more to come over the coming months. This selection is a champion winter performer, very hardy and just keeps on endlessly flowering, usually from November through to March and April.

Some Erysimum varieties are already showing bud and the odd flash of colour but this has been brought on by the mild winter so far. They may take a slight backward step if it gets properly cold, but they are all pretty tough. Spring bulbs are just around the corner and should make the list in the early in the New Year.

Seasonal best wishes from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.