Hairy finalists

Hi. 

That was a crazy week with all production plans going out of the window. So much for finishing the potting early this year, we were so busy putting orders together we haven’t looked at any other work. Only having four days in the week gets us off to a busy start anyway, but sales volumes were huge for the time of year, demanding the attendance of all available drivers and usable vans, and smashing all previous September weekly records. Sadly, it won’t rescue a very difficult season, but it does make you feel there is hope out there. Fingers crossed all the gardeners out there pitch up with their credit cards and do a bit of spending with you all! 

With no potting done so far this week and an extra batch of compost ordered to come with our peat-free spring bulb mix, I suspect I may have spoken too soon in predicting an early finish. The Erysimum and Aubrietia young plants should be the last arrivals for potting at the end of the month, and with luck we should still get the rest completed before they arrive. The couple of weeks I had put aside for tunnel recovering will now have to run alongside the updated potting demands. I had a scout around this week and found six covers damaged beyond repair and ordered up the replacement sheets. That hurt, I certainly don’t remember them being that much when I bought last years, mind you we only replaced three last year. Generally, they last us between 7 and 10 years so they are still cheap when broken down to the annual cost, and a gang of four can usually remove and replace two in a day given the right sunny, warm and still weather. There is a general rule here that applies whenever we cover our tunnels, it’s always beautifully still until the moment you unroll the sheet and then out of nowhere the wind erupts, adding an extra element of excitement to the whole job. One breath at the wrong moment, the sheet catches on something and snags. What fun. 

Exciting news arrived this week, that we are a finalist in the HTA Grower of the Year Awards, unsurprisingly in the Sustainability section. We are invited to attend the presentation dinner & ceremony at the Barbican Centre on September 24th (after the HTA conference), so having booked a train seat and a ticket, we may see some of you there! Lots on next week, with turbine repairs and servicing, possibly the return of the broken-down Fiat which has been missing for two months, and some stickers to put on a couple of the vans. Watch out next week for a new look to a couple of the vans! 

Over the bank holiday weekend, I went up the hill with my hedge trimming kit to clear around the turbine bases to allow easier access for the climbing turbine engineers and took my binoculars with me after a tip-off from Caroline that here maybe something exciting to see, A first for me, a flock of Yellow Wagtails, gathering for their return to sub-Saharan Africa, feeding on the bugs left on the rape stubble. Ace. 

The young folk here have put together a short feedback form which I am going to attach to the next couple of weeks emails, feel free to let them know your thoughts, they are very keen to hear from you all.  

Social media updates To find our Instagram content try our username @thehairypotplantcompany  or use the link below; https://www.instagram.com/thehairypotplantcompany?igsh=MXhhMGxhcjgzNGYydA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr 

Availability list. 

It’s time for the autumn flowering Cyclamen hederifolium to fly the flag. They are raring to go with verdant growth and already flashing plenty of colour, with lots more bud to come. We had a huge run on these last week, so there is already a big hole in stock levels. Don’t hold back! Our long flowering Cyclamen coum are also ready, although it is a bit early for them to go into full flowering mode, they are more bountiful in winter and spring, but there is already the odd bud on show. We secured earlier batches of seedlings this year, so we have grown these more diminutive beauties to a bigger size, which should help promote more sales.  There are several Asters in bud doing there late summer show.  We have a charming compact batch of Verbena Lollipop now in bud. Flowering all summer and autumn long, Whirling Butterflies (White) are looking great. Another later summer range are the mini garden Chrysanthemums which are already showing early tight bud. Fresh batches of Echinacea are throwing up healthy growth and flower buds, just in time for a late splash. We have a very compact batch of Achillea Milly Rock Terracotta. There are some fantastic short bushy Coreopsis in bud again, ready to make a lovely late summer splash. We still have plenty of summer flowering stock looking very well. A range of different types of Salvia’s, many in bud, Osteospermum Tresco Purple, just a few colourful Bidens and Penstemon Garnet. We have plenty of Scabiosa in bud in a range of colours, another long flowering summer star. 

Still plenty of fabulous looking herbs in a wide range to inspire some autumnal cooking adventures. It’s a bit late now for the annual Basils, Coriander and alike, but there are still plenty of perennial varieties raring to go. 

Take care out there, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries. 

Hairy hacking

Hi. 

So far, we have missed out on the thunderstorms and rain, with just a couple of short showers overnight to dampen down the dust. The forecast is for more over the coming days, so fingers crossed it doesn’t skirt around us as it did last night. Sales are still frustratingly slow after all the heat and hosepipe bans stifled summer activity. Thankfully those customers that have taken a bit of a punt and restocked with some fresh verdant Hairy Pot stock seem to be reaping the rewards, as we are seeing a lot of reordering after the initial inputs, which is encouraging. 

Production on the nursery is bowling along as we rush to get the stock potted as quickly as we can, trying to make the most of the last of the longer days and high light levels. With some crops it makes a huge difference to the eventual plant size and overwintering success, so it does add a bit more unneeded stress as the evenings draw in and morning condensation levels rise. We usually end up finishing the potting of the main crops at the end of September, but I’m hoping this year we will be a couple of weeks ahead. Great for plant growth and more time for us to catch up on the desperately needed tunnel covering.

I have been extending the nursery Wi-Fi range today as we try to get our tech use a bit more mobile around the site. Being able to update the main computer while on the move will be very useful and save a lot of double handling of information. We also need better comms networks so that the EV chargers and the solar panels can access the internet to work more efficiently and be controlled remotely. I do get a bit nervous about all this access to the internet, with all the AI developments and hacking going on. It does look a little scary out there sometimes when you hear what AI is getting up to, apparently with little overall control. I suppose we have to trust that the experts know what they are doing. What could possibly go wrong?  

Our brilliant year took another wrong turn this week when one of the wind turbines blew an oil seal. In the 15 years we have had them this was a first, but a fairly messy first. Caroline spotted it on her morning rounds, the turbine was still working and sounding fine, but the top of the mast was glistening with lots of dark coloured splashes of oil. Luckily, they don’t hold much volume as it is only lubricating the small gear box, so there isn’t any sign of it on the ground, it is all on the upper mast and ladder. It will be a messy clean up but apparently it does happen and the engineers know what they are doing. New seals and a service on all three turbines in a couple of weeks’ time, meanwhile we are one turbine down. 

The young folk here have put together a short feedback form which I am going to attach to the next couple of weeks emails, feel free to let them know your thoughts, they are very keen to hear from you all.  

Social media updates To find our Instagram content try our username @thehairypotplantcompany  or use the link below; https://www.instagram.com/thehairypotplantcompany?igsh=MXhhMGxhcjgzNGYydA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr 

Availability list. 

It’s time for the autumn flowering Cyclamen hederifolium to fly the flag. They are raring to go with verdant growth and already flashing plenty of colour, with lots more bud to come. We have a rose form and a white, both look good although the rose is currently slightly chunkier. We sold out of these very early last year, so I’ve potted a few extra this time. Don’t hold back! Our very long flowering Cyclamen coum are also now ready to go, although it is a bit early for them to go into full flower mode, they are more bountiful in winter and spring, but there will be the odd one show its face earlier with a fair wind. We managed to secure earlier batches of seedlings this year, so we have grown these fairly diminutive beauties to a bigger size than previously, which should help promote more sales.  We have a lovely compact batch of Verbena Lollipop now in bud. Flowering all summer long, the Gaura Rosy Jane (bicolour) and Whirling Butterflies (White) are looking great. Brightly coloured Helenium Hayday is available in multiple colours. It is very compact in its first year but really comes into its own in year two with absolutely masses of long-lasting flowers on taller sturdy stems. A class act in the garden border. Another later summer range are the mini garden Chrysanthemums which are already showing early tight bud. Fresh batches of Echinacea are throwing up healthy growth and flower buds, just in time for a late splash. Platycodon are looking great, with colour and plenty of bud. We have some very compact batches of Achillea Milly Rock Terracotta and Red.  The last couple of batches of Veronica Anniversary Blue and Anniversary Rose were given a Chelsea Chop and have come back with a flourish showing loads of fresh bud. There are some fantastic short bushy Coreopsis in bud again, ready to make a lovely late summer splash. Small and compact the Lewisia Elise have plenty of bud already and will flower all summer long. There are several Asters in bud doing there late summer show.  We still have plenty of summer flowering stock looking very well. A range of different types of Salvia’s, many in bud, Osteospermum Tresco Purple, colourful Bidens and Penstemon Garnet. We have plenty of Scabiosa in bud in a range of colours, another long flowering summer star. 

Take care out there, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries. 

Hairy transport

Hi. 

Just a quick splurge this week as there seems to be so much stock out there currently in bud or flower that I am supposed to be promoting! The plants have already reacted very positively to the cooler weather, as have the rest of us. We have yet to see any significant rainfall here, just one overnight spell of light rain that did manage to create the odd short-lived puddle. Fingers crossed the forecast is right and we are going to get to see some more over the next couple of weeks, even if it does turn out to be a slightly damp Bank Holiday weekend. 

If we are going to recover any late summer/autumn sales we need the ground to be more receptive to being worked and accepting some new exciting plants. This week has been a tricky one to navigate with a positive hat on. On the plus side, on the vehicle front, we have finalised the new van livery design which we were planning on applying to our three vans with plenty of mileage still left in them. It has taken several weeks, and the designer has thankfully been very patient with us, now it’s a matter of cleaning, printing and sticking, all of which is being done by a specialist so hopefully it will all be straight and not too lumpy. 

The downside was the news on Tuesday that the newest Fiat, at two and a half years old, needs a new engine, turbo, oil pump and cambelt after some sort of catastrophic sequence of events involving a failed £50 oil pump. Initially the breakdown which happened 2 months ago was put down to a burnt-out starter motor as it just stopped at a roundabout and refused to restart. We now end up with a £15,000+ bill and we still haven’t got it back. The three-year warrantee period still had 6 months to run but we had gone 11,000 miles over the 100,000 warrantee limit, so absolutely no help from Fiat, not even a gesture of goodwill. I can think of a gesture or two I would like to make to Fiat, but I think not buying another one is about as far as I can go. This model was the one they didn’t put a dipstick in, other than the one behind the steering wheel, it relies on a sensor which sometimes works but more infuriatingly doesn’t react for hours when you top it up. 

The young folk here have put together a short feedback form which I am going to attach to the next couple of weeks emails, feel free to let them know your thoughts, they are very keen to hear from you all. 

Social media updates To find our Instagram content try our username @thehairypotplantcompany  or use the link below; https://www.instagram.com/thehairypotplantcompany?igsh=MXhhMGxhcjgzNGYydA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr 

Availability list. 

It’s time for the autumn flowering Cyclamen hederifolium to fly the flag. They are raring to go with verdant growth and already flashing colour, with plenty more bud to come. We have a rose form and a white, both look good although the rose is currently slightly chunkier. We sold out of these very early last year, so I’ve potted a few extra this time. Don’t hold back! We have a lovely compact batch of Verbena Lollipop now in bud. A couple of new lines for us this summer are Liriope Big Blue and Monroe White, both now showing a few buds. Just in case you haven’t had enough sunshine this summer, our summery yellow Kniphofia citrina is budding up nicely. Flowering all summer long, the Gaura Rosy Jane (bicolour) and Whirling Butterflies (White) are looking great. Brightly coloured Helenium Hayday is available in multiple colours. It is very compact in its first year but really comes into its own in year two with absolutely masses of long-lasting flowers on taller sturdy stems. A class act in the garden border. Blue and white varieties of Platycodon are looking great, with colour and plenty of bud. We have some Persicaria in bud as well as the ever-popular Nepeta. Kitten Around is very compact with smaller flowers, while Walkers Low, despite its name, is taller and more vigorous.  The last couple of batches of Veronica Anniversary Blue and Anniversary Rose were given a Chelsea Chop and have come back with a flourish showing loads of fresh bud. There are some short bushy Coreopsis in bud again, ready to make a late summer splash. We have a new Geranium on the nursery this summer. Jolly Bee’s had always been too expensive for us to grow in the past, but module prices for this one have dipped low enough this season for us to lash out on a few. Slightly scrambly in habit, it’s mid-blue large flowers just go on and on. A cracker. Small and compact the Lewisia Elise have plenty of bud already and will flower all summer long. There are several Asters in bud doing there late summer show.  Late summer flowering Rudbeckia Goldsturm are producing buds now. A very hardy Rudbeckia which we have cut back and regrown to create shorter flower stems than usual, but once planted it romps away, a garden classic. We still have plenty of summer flowering stock looking very well. A range of different types of Salvia’s, many in bud, Osteospermum Tresco Purple and Penstemon Garnet. Another later summer range are the mini garden Chrysanthemums which are already showing early tight bud. We have plenty of Scabiosa in bud in a range of colours, another long flowering summer star. 

Take care out there, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries. 

Hairy Charge

Hi. 

Looks like this might be the last blistering day for a couple of weeks if the longer-term forecast is right. What a relief that would be, the tunnels have been unbearable for the last couple of days. At the moment we actually have light rain in the forecast for 3 days next week and temperatures at more usual summer heights of 22 – 25C, although whether it happens is another thing. Just a drop in temperature would be good, but for the ground to get some meaningful moisture added could be transformative to the gardens and hopefully open up the gardener’s wallets again. We live in hope. 

The electric van has been delivering all of this week, which is great. Most charging has been from our own solar output, so very green, and good value if I conveniently forget the cost of installing it all. The drivers are getting used to the nuances of EV life, but there have still been a few dramas making life more exciting than necessary. Danny is always up for a challenge and went out for the first time this week and he certainly picked up range anxiety that day. We had discussed only charging the van at the forecourt fast-chargers with enough to get home, so we can mostly charge here, and I suggested returning with about 20% in store to alleviate any anxiety about getting back. He had one successful charge in London which he worked out would be enough to get home, but only just! His problems came when the charge got down to 10% and the mileage estimate on the van display disappeared. Although it looked like he would make it with a couple of miles to spare at the point when it disappeared, confidence dropped and anxiety took its place. The first garage he passed didn’t have chargers, so he diverted to find another. The next one did, but not many, and he couldn’t find them on the large site so he headed for the huge Instavolt site just 2 miles down the road from us, for a quick zap and go. According to Carolines app he had just 1% left at this point, a bit too close for comfort! With all the clever tech we were able to follow his trials live online and tried to phone him to help, but his phone had run low on power too! Thankfully his second day went more smoothly. 

Last weeks master-plan to move over to peat-free glue-plugs rather than loose-fill modules for our propagation work has already hit the buffers. The trays wouldn’t pass through the seed sowing machine without a complete refurb. The next possibility investigated was to use the same trays we already use and they would fill them with their glue-plugs. One of the biggest costs, after the very high cost of the reusable trays themselves, is the transport of the trays to and from the UK and Holland. Firstly, there are two trips for each load, if we are to reuse the trays, and secondly the legs on the trays means you are only transporting half the number of modules per pallet and a lot of empty space. This added up to a quadrupling on transport cost, which was already very high, and blew the whole thing out of the water. It’s back to the drawing board. 

Social media updates To find our Instagram content try our username @thehairypotplantcompany  or use the link below; https://www.instagram.com/thehairypotplantcompany?igsh=MXhhMGxhcjgzNGYydA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr 

Availability list.

It’s time for the autumn flowering Cyclamen hederifolium to fly the flag. They are raring to go with verdant growth and already flashing colour, with plenty more bud to come. We have a rose form and a white, both look good although the rose is currently slightly chunkier. We sold out of these very early last year, so I’ve potted a few extra this time. Don’t hold back! We have a lovely compact batch of Verbena Lollipop now in bud. Just in case you haven’t had enough sunshine this summer, our summery yellow Kniphofia citrina is budding up nicely. Flowering all summer long, the Gaura Rosy Jane (bicolour) and Whirling Butterflies (White) are looking great. Brightly coloured Helenium Hayday is available in multiple colours. It is very compact in its first year but really comes into its own in year two with absolutely masses of long-lasting flowers on taller sturdy stems. A class act in the garden border. Blue and white varieties of Platycodon are looking great, with colour and plenty of bud. We have some Persicaria in bud as well as the ever-popular Nepeta Kitten Around is very compact with smaller flowers, while Walkers Low, despite its name, is taller and more vigorous.  We have a new Geranium on the nursery this summer. Jolly Bee’s had always been too expensive for us to grow in the past, but module prices for this one have dipped low enough this season for us to lash out on a few. Slightly scrambly in habit, it’s mid-blue large flowers just go on and on. A cracker. Small and compact the Lewisia Elise have plenty of bud already and will flower all summer long. We already have several Asters in bud, which are usually something we associate with late summer!  Late summer flowering  Goldsturm are producing buds now. A very hardy Rudbeckia which we have cut back and regrown to create shorter flower stems than usual, but once planted it romps away, a garden classic. We still have plenty of summer flowering stock looking very well. A range of different types of Salvia’s, many in bud, Osteospermum Tresco Purple and Penstemon Garnet. Another later summer range are the mini garden Chrysanthemums which are already showing early tight bud. We have plenty of Scabiosa in bud in a range of colours, another long flowering summer star. 

Take care out there, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries. 

Hairy hope

Hi. 

Into another summer month and suddenly Autumn seems to be rushing towards us, although there still looks like plenty of summer heat is still to come down here, over the next week or two. Thankfully our replacement sprinkler nozzles arrived today, ahead of schedule, so I have started installing them in the worst affected tunnels first. Hope to finish tomorrow before the higher temperatures return, but I suspect I might have to order a few more to get the lines sensibly set up with either all working older nozzles or all new ones. This way it should be easier to replace the older ones if the issue returns, assuming it will be the older ones that fail. Who knows what’s going on, certainly not me. Our new acid tank had all it’s seals and gaskets replaced today, so we are all set up for hopefully 7 years of worry-free acidification. It turned out to be an easier update than the engineers expecting so they weren’t here too long and they managed to keep any vapours contain within the tank and pipework. 

In a difficult season we have to take what joy we can in the little victories. This week we overcame a problem we have had hanging around for several years. We have a couple of Danish trolley trailers that carry our trolleys around the nursery picking up orders and distributing the potting output, and both have very heavy drop-down ramps for loading and unloading. Originally, they had some hefty springs to help reduce the effort involved but they perished long ago. We have had a series of rather inadequate replacements over the years as we struggled to find the right type, weight and size to do the job well. They have all helped but were never ideal. After another spring breakage the chaps found a couple of springs on a very old bigger trailer which proved to be perfect for the job, if a little aged in appearance. Know the feeling. After years of searching on the web I manged to pick the right word combination, ‘Trailer ramp springs’, in Google and found some identical new ones from just down the road. Very reasonably priced, they arrived today and look perfect. At last, I got something right! 

It’s that time of year when we have to juggle despatch, plant maintenance, tunnel clearance and potting. We always think that after a busy Spring the summer will be more relaxed, but in fact I think it’s worse, especially when the weather is so challenging to be working in tunnels. Productivity takes a dip, lots of people disappear on well earned holidays and alike, and suddenly we struggle to find the time to get all the work done in the ideal time frame. This year hasn’t helped with lower sales than expected, meaning more stock on the ground to look after, resulting in less space to get the next batches potted into. Lower sales ends up creating higher ongoing costs rather than less which is frustrating. 

I have been investigating new propagation trays this week in an effort to improve our seed sowing success rates. We made great strides last season improving our loose-fill mix for our own modules trays and this seasons output has been much more reliable, but by no means perfect. There are still some plants that just don’t like the loose fill peat-free mixes available. Meanwhile we have had great success over many years with a peat-free glue plug we import from Holland that we used initially for our micro-propagation weaning. I also used them for several years hand sowing herbs and for doing a few cuttings into. This summer we have done a much wider cuttings range, very successfully, under the new mist unit, but the module size is a bit too big for efficient and economic use of space. We have now settled on a slightly smaller module size which means the trays hold 160 units rather than 104 and I think this will be perfect to cover most of our propagation needs next year. 

All I need to do now is organise the seed sowing machine makers to knock me up a new dibber bar, seed delivery bar and nozzle bar to fit the new tray size and we will be away. I’m have a nagging feeling that those fairly simple but precisely engineered parts for the machine will be scarily expensive, but the longer term return of more efficient output will eventually pay it back, in theory. 

Social media updates To find our Instagram content try our username @thehairypotplantcompany  or use the link below; https://www.instagram.com/thehairypotplantcompany?igsh=MXhhMGxhcjgzNGYydA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr 

Availability list. 

Bue and white varieties of Platycodon are looking great, with colour and plenty of bud. The super popular Nemesia Wisley Vanilla is back on the list and there are more follow-on batches coming too.  Fabulous Echinacea in bud and showing a bit of colour. Very strong stemmed, especially the Lakota range. Small and compact the Lewisia Elise have plenty of bud already and will flower all summer long. We already have several Asters in bud, which are usually something we associate with late summer!  Another later summer range are the mini garden Chrysanthemums which are already showing early tight bud. A couple of the summer flowering Crocosmia are now in bud/flower, Quite a few Leucanthemum in bud now, the first of many flowers to come. We have plenty of Scabiosa in bud in a range of colours, another long flowering summer star. 

Herb sales seem to be booming this year; it must be all that healthy home cooking we are being encouraged to do. Lots of stock is coming through nicely now. There are some super Sage, both Green and Purple and Rosemary too. 

Take care out there, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries. 

Hi

Just a quick one as it is already nearly dinner time. Another hectic and hot week. Slightly easier other than yesterday and possibly a shower or two over the weekend. Our drivers were excited to see some rain on their travels today, even Basingstoke had a heavy downfall, but we just had a few spots, not even enough to raise that lovely ‘just rained’ earthy scent (called petrichor, just in case you want to bring it up in casual conversation!). Still pleasantly busy on sales despite the drought and heat which is keeping us n our toes. We are still very light-handed at the moment, which means we aren’t getting through as many jobs as I would like. There is so much juggling of space, trimming and moving plants to do after the orders are completed that the potting machine didn’t even get started until after lunch on Thursday.

 Then there are all the unexpected challenges that pop up to throw a spanner in the works. This week it was a two-pronged attack. The acid storage tank that was installed just over a year ago had a visit from the manufacturer to replace the measuring float which had come apart. On closer inspection the engineer found the vapour gaskets were showing signs of deterioration which was a worry. On investigation he found that they had fitted the wrong gaskets for our strength of acid, their fault not mine. All safe at the moment, but an urgent replacement job is on the cards. Very frustrating as the purchaser of the unit, as we paid 4 times the price we paid for the same kit 8 years before, and what do you get for all that extra cost? Certainly not a better product. We have been investigating a problem with the irrigation spray-lines over the past few weeks where the mini sprinklers are not all rotating reliably, they keep getting stuck. Luckily the sand-beds under the plants even out the water spread to a degree, but considering we replaced the entire lot last summer to obtain a more even water distribution it’s another challenging puzzle. I have been cleaning nozzles in vinegar, blowing them out with compressed air, swapping nozzles about between positions and tunnels, just trying to nail down a solution. The bizarre thing is the tunnels vary in how much they are affected. About a third of them are untouched and work very well, one third have issues with about half the nozzles in the line and in the last third virtually every nozzle is misbehaving. Both myself and the nozzle supplier now think it may be a biofilm issue. We have been trying to boost the plants health and their capacity to fight off pests and diseases so we can further reduce the need to introduce so many predators or as a last resort spray, by applying a mix of various bio-supplements through the irrigation system. It looks like these additives have left us with a thin smear of biofilm forming inside the pipework and on the sprinkler parts.  For the moment I am buying 1,200 new sprinkler heads, just to get everything working properly, and then we will need to find a solution to preventing and removing the unwanted biofilm. We may have a solution on hand, but only time will tell. It would be a shame to stop the supplements as they seem to be helping, but one way or another we need to sort it out, especially when the crops are under the pressure of seemingly endless heat and no rain and don’t appreciate erratic distribution. 

The electric van seems to be getting slightly better on its range capacity, although sometimes it’s just too clever for its own good. One of our drivers missed getting through a timed gate opening this week because it refused to move off when he got into the cab. Turning it off and on again naturally cured it but the gate was shut by this time! Very proud of one of our drivers (Andy) who is off for the next couple of weeks as he is umpiring in the hockey veteran’s world cup, being held in Holland and Belgium. He did the same a few years ago and I believe he actually umpired the final in one of the age categories. I’m not very good with rules generally, so definitely not a job for me,  

Social media updates To find our Instagram content try our username @thehairypotplantcompany  or use the link below; https://www.instagram.com/thehairypotplantcompany?igsh=MXhhMGxhcjgzNGYydA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr 

Availability list. Summer must be here with bud on many of the Agapanthus varieties. The super popular Nemesia Wisley Vanilla is back on the list and there are more follow-on batches coming too.  Fabulous Echinacea in bud and showing a bit of colour. Very strong stemmed, especially the Lakota range. Small and compact the Lewisia Elise have plenty of bud already and will flower all summer long. We already have several Asters in bud, which are usually something we associate with late summer!  Another later summer range are the mini garden Chrysanthemums which are already showing early tight bud. A couple of the summer flowering Crocosmia are now in bud, Quite a few Leucanthemum in bud now, the first of many flowers to come. We have plenty of Scabiosa in bud in a range of colours, another long flowering summer star. Herb sales seem to be booming this year; it must be all that healthy home cooking we are being encouraged to do. Lots of stock is coming through nicely now. There are some super Sage, both Green and Purple and Rosemary too. 

Take care out there, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries. 

Hairy charge

Hi.

Thankfully there are signs of a slight cooling over the coming weekend, but it will be warmer again during the following week. Possible showers in a week’s time, yes please! Not sure if I am going to be able to cope with this if it does become the norm, it is just too challenging for an old fart more used to hot weather meaning 25C. Luckily, I have been in air-conditioned comfort all day as Caroline and I took the electric ID3 up to Lincoln to collect our new electric Renault 4 tonne delivery van. Just 2 months late, it still wasn’t finished when we arrived! 

Good job we collected it ourselves as there were a few little additions we had requested on top of their standard product. Present were the spare wheel (not standard issue these days, but very useful and time saving if you have a puncture) and an extra piece of rachet bar to hold the spare wheel in place, Missing were the side rails on the ramp, which stop the trolley wheels going off the ramp edge when loading and unloading, and the registration plates needed for the updated registration number we ordered but they were unable to sot out before collection. All promised on numerous occasions, remembered when pointed out and, to be fair, swiftly put right while we waited. 

They had a lovely coffee machine, so we were well pumped-up by the time all was ready! We had a full charge in the van, which in theory would have just about got us home, but it was going to be a bit tight so decided to add a bit while we recharged the VW, which also needed a top up. Pulled into the service station and being a good boy, I followed the signs to the van and lorry parking which unfortunately left me in a position where I couldn’t actually get to the chargers, the exit led straight back onto the M1. Caroline meanwhile found a super quick charger which took just 10 minutes to charge enough to get home. Grabbed a sandwich and cold drink and moved onto the next service station (Watford Gap), No good, tiny parking spaces by the chargers, too short for the van. Onto the next and getting slightly anxious as to how difficult this was all going to be, only to find a row of nice new fast chargers with good sized spaces. Hurrah. Out came the new electric ‘fuel card’ to try out for the first time and waved it in front of the card reader. The card screen was so scratched we couldn’t read it in the bright sun, but noises were emitting from the charger and on checking the van display it was charging fine and very quickly. No idea what we rate we paid as there was no display to physically see unless we downloaded a special app. Not to worry, in 15 minutes I was ready to go again. Left the service station without realising I had picked the wrong exit back onto the M1 instead of the A45. It’s all just too exciting. Sat-nav got me sorted at the next junction, but Caroline still hadn’t realised what was going on until she reached the next one along. As a consequence, I beat her home despite being restricted to 56 mph. Now it’s charging up, nearly for free, on our nursery charger and ready for the tracker and camera fitting tomorrow. We might get it on the road next week, although there are some ‘words’ being applied to the side at some point and we must take it off the road for a day or two when the reg number officially changes. In the end it should be on the road a lot, we have to start saving on fuel costs asap after a very challenging year. 

Social media updates To find our Instagram content try our username @thehairypotplantcompany  or use the link below; https://www.instagram.com/thehairypotplantcompany?igsh=MXhhMGxhcjgzNGYydA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr 

Availability list. Summer must be here with bud on many of the Agapanthus varieties. The super popular Nemesia Wisley Vanilla is back on the list and there are more follow-on batches coming too.  Fabulous Echinacea in bud and showing a bit of colour. Very strong stemmed, especially the Lakota range. Small and compact the Lewisia Elise have plenty of bud already and will flower all summer long. The pretty Foam Flower Tiarella wherrii are now in flower and bud We already have several Asters in bud, which are usually something we associate with late summer!  Another later summer range are the mini garden Chrysanthemums which are already showing early tight bud. The early summer flowering Allium Millenium is now beginning to show a flash of colour. It’s a cracker, much tidier foliage and habit than the spring flowering Alliums, and it flowers for longer too. We have a couple of batches of fresh Digitalis coming into bud. Not many so don’t hang about. A couple of the summer flowering Crocosmia are now in bud, Quite a few Leucanthemum in bud now, the first of many flowers to come. We have plenty of Scabiosa in bud in a range of colours, another long flowering summer star. Garden Pinks (Dianthus) are back in bud again after recovering from our ever-hungry rampaging hares. More summer stars are coming out now with bud appearing on the Gaura and Salvia’s too. 

Herb sales seem to be booming this year; it must be all that healthy home cooking we are being encouraged to do. Lots of stock is coming through nicely now. Tarragon is back and the Mints have recovered nicely too. There are some super Sage, both Green and Purple. 

Take care out there, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries. 

Hairy harvesting

Hi. 

Back into the cauldron of heatwave conditions on a nursery. Early starts and even earlier finishes means that productivity has evaporated along with all the water in our main pond. We have had to run some water in there to at least save some of the plant and insect life that was thriving just a week or two ago. It has happened before and it is surprising how things can bounce back given more favourable conditions. It’s not quite as hot here as before, but it looks like being longer running this time and I’m not sure which is worse.  I’m going to keep this one brief as I am probably a bit over tired and not thinking very clearly. 

On top of the heat issues and the usual nursery chaos, Caroline’s mum sadly passed away last week after being ill for quite a while. Even when expected it still throws everything into a bit of a mess, so we are perhaps not quite as focussed as usual, at the moment.  It didn’t help that last night the farm had to harvest the field of rape beside our house, starting at midnight and finishing about 5.30am. They were desperate for the crop to hold a bit of moisture overnight as it was too dry to cut during the day. Apparently, it out worked well for the crop, although with all our windows open I must have been woken 10 or 15 times to the not so gentle lullaby of a monster combine turning next to the window, or a big tractor and trailer trundling past taking a load back to the farm. The joys of living in the country! Take care out there. 

Social media updates To find our Instagram content try our username @thehairypotplantcompany  or use the link below; https://www.instagram.com/thehairypotplantcompany?igsh=MXhhMGxhcjgzNGYydA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr 

Availability list. 

Summer must be here with bud on many of the Agapanthus varieties. The super popular Nemesia Wisley Vanilla is back on the list and there are more follow-on batches coming too.  Fabulous Echinacea in bud and showing a bit of colour. Very strong stemmed, especially the Lakota range. Small and compact the Lewisia Elise have plenty of bud already and will flower all summer long. The pretty Foam Flower Tiarella wherrii are now in flower and bud We already have several Asters in bud, which are usually something we associate with late summer!  Another later summer range are the mini garden Chrysanthemums which are already showing early tight bud. The early summer flowering Allium Millenium is now beginning to show a flash of colour. It’s a cracker, much tidier foliage and habit than the spring flowering Alliums, and it flowers for longer too. We have a couple of batches of fresh Digitalis coming into bud. Not many so don’t hang about. There are some cracking Verbena’s Lollipop ready to go. Don’t miss out on this very popular line. A couple of the summer flowering Crocosmia are now in bud, Quite a few Leucanthemum in bud now, the first of many flowers to come. We have plenty of Scabiosa in bud in a range of colours, another long flowering summer star. Garden Pinks (Dianthus) are back in bud again after recovering from our ever-hungry rampaging hares. More summer stars are coming out now with bud appearing on the Gaura and Salvia’s too. 

Herb sales seem to be booming this year; it must be all that healthy home cooking we are being encouraged to do. Lots of stock is coming through nicely now and the tender herbs like Basil are now making their summertime appearance. Tarragon is back and the Mints have recovered nicely too. There are some super Sage, both Green and Purple. 

Best wishes from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries. 

Hairy new van

 Hi. 

Another month flashes by and it’s Wimbledon already. The never-ending rounds of football continue, which makes it feel still like spring sometimes. We are now well into the knockout stages of the world cup and all looks ok so far with both my sweepstake teams still involved and England too, but only by the skin of their teeth. Hopefully the next game goes well although I’m not sure I will be able to keep awake until 1.00 in the morning to watch it, we’ll see. 

We are pressing on with next seasons potting, clearing the spring crops where we can, giving the tunnels a spring clean and filling them up again with firstly the slower growing overwintered crops. The second part of our main Dutch module delivery arrives next week which sees the back of most of the imports for the year, other than a few bulbs in the Autumn. Then it’s onto the faster growing UK and home-grown crops to fill up the nursery again ready for whatever 2027 holds. Our next container of pots arrives shortly which I think leaves one more to come in the Autumn. 

Sadly, as fast as the plant sales income arrives it disappears again, we don’t seem to be able to give it a nice long summer holiday in our bank account to give it a healthy glow, blink and you miss it! Our electric van has been delayed again so it will be another couple of weeks before we get hold of it. Very frustrating, but we have seen some pictures to check it has been put together as expected. I think we are all agreed it is, externally, one of the ugliest van cabs we have seen! 

It’s possible the perspective of the image they sent me exaggerates the size of the nose somewhat, but I have been using that argument myself all my life and never got anywhere. We hired a Renault Master van in the summer and thought then what a beast it looked, so it shouldn’t have been too much of a surprise really. I’m sure we will get used to it and it’s what’s under the bonnet that really counts, that’s what I say. It’s a shame in a way that Renault have not made it more visually appealing, they really hit the right mark with their electric Renault 5, which is a very funky car, internally, externally and in performance. Caroline is really pleased with hers, so much so I have only been allowed to drive it once. I’m just not cool enough! 

I don’t want to jinx tomorrow’s special delivery, but we are due to receive our replacement emergency generator at long last, making our ancient one redundant. If we can then wrestle our electrician back onto site, we can complete our electric upgrade started back in April. There will be two new EV chargers, upgraded consumer units in the barn and main electric shed which means all the site will be automatically backed up with power from the new generator should we find ourselves cut off, which does happen here quite a lot. A bit more of a marathon than expected but what’s new there, I know they can see me coming. 

Social media updates To find our Instagram content try our username @thehairypotplantcompany  or use the link below; https://www.instagram.com/thehairypotplantcompany?igsh=MXhhMGxhcjgzNGYydA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr 

Availability list. 

Plant growth is rampant, plenty of bud and colour to tug open those purse strings. The super popular Nemesia Wisley Vanilla is back on the list and there are more follow-on batches coming too.  Small and compact the Lewisia Elise have plenty of bud already and will flower all summer long. The pretty Foam Flower Tiarella wherrii are now in flower and bud We already have several Asters in bud, which are usually something we associate with late summer!  The early summer flowering Allium Millenium is now producing bud. It’s a cracker, much tidier foliage and habit than the spring flowering Alliums, and it flowers for longer too. There are some cracking Verbena’s Lolliop ready to go. Don’t miss out on this very popular line. A couple of the summer flowering Crocosmia are now in bud, The taller and very red Lucifer and the more compact golden yellow George Davidson. Emberglow, another red but shorter than Lucifer, is only a week or so away from bud showing too. Summer must be here with bud on several of the Agapanthus varieties. Quite a few Leucanthemum in bud now, the first of many flowers to come. We have plenty of Scabiosa in bud in a range of colours, another long flowering summer star. Garden Pinks (Dianthus) are back in bud again after recovering from our ever-hungry rampaging hares. More summer stars are coming out now with bud appearing on the Gaura, Bidens and the Salvia’s too are now showing plenty of bud and now a bit of colour too. Oxalis is back on the list and in bud, after we gave it the Chelsea Chop just short time ago. We cut them right back to compost and there now back on show again, looking great. 

Herb sales seem to be booming this year; it must be all that healthy home cooking we are being encouraged to do. Lots of stock is coming through nicely now and the tender herbs like Basil are now making their summertime appearance. Tarragon is back and the Mints have recovered nicely too. There are some super Sage, both Green and Purple

Best wishes from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries. 

Hairy heatwave

Hi. 

That was a hot one. Just a couple more days to go and we can look forward to cooler temperatures and the odd shower, which hopefully won’t be too heavy. Our thermometer was registering 37C in the shade over the last couple of days and in the prop tunnel it peaked today at 39.7C. The mist unit in there also maintains a high humidity, to keep the rooting cuttings turgid, which adds to the feeling of uncontrollable heat gain, which is quite frightening if you are in there too long. Naturally we had to give up working on cutting production other than a few hours earlier in the week, in fact it was a pretty disrupted week all round, with earlier starts to the day and very early finishes, except for those of us lucky enough to be able to retire to the relative comfort of the air-con in the office! That was still running at 27C+ at times when the window had to be opened and extractor fan turned on to vent out the printing vapours. 

Although more comfortable, we did feel a bit left out, having started at 6.30 we were still here 12 hours later when most others had retired home at lunchtime.  Although orders had been supressed by the heat, we did manage to clear some space to squeeze in a bit of potting. The fans and shading we installed in the potting tunnel and despatch a few years ago come into their own in weather like this, making the mornings bearable and preventing productivity from disappearing down the drain altogether. We still very much rely on the excellent toughest members of the team who seem to relish the heat, because without them picking up the orders, clearing and scraping the very hot production tunnels, putting plants down and watering them in, we would be sunk.  

The lower number of practical jobs we could actually attempt this week meant we couldn’t sensibly provide work for everyone all the time, so we are also grateful to those who opted to reduce their hours or take days off, as we knew they could keep safe and be more comfortable at home. In a way these heatwaves are now virtually the same as ‘snow days’ in the winter, when we end up replying on those brave enough and tough enough to get into work to continue to function, while others take extra time off to stay safe and cosy by the fire. 

There is a possibility me may collect the new electric delivery van next week, it has all gone a bit quiet, but it is paid for and insured, so we must be close. We are going to try something a bit different with this van and a couple of the others too if it works out ok. We are having some signwriting designed to stick on the van to say who we are and maybe show what we do, then you will be able to see it is us from further away, get even more excited about your delivery and get that kettle on! 

Social media on trend To find our Instagram content try our username @thehairypotplantcompany  or use the link below; https://www.instagram.com/thehairypotplantcompany?igsh=MXhhMGxhcjgzNGYydA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr 

Availability list.

Plant growth is rampant, plenty of bud and colour to tug open those purse strings. The super popular Nemesia Wisley Vanilla is back on the list and there are more follow-on batches coming too.  Small and compact the Lewisia Elise have plenty of bud already and will flower all summer long. The ever-popular Erigeron karv. Stallone has loads of bud and flower, ready for a summer full of pretty little daisy flowers. The pretty Foam Flower Tiarella wherrii are now in flower and bud We already have several Asters in bud, which are usually something we associate with late summer!  The early summer flowering Allium Millenium is now producing bud. It’s a cracker, much tidier foliage and habit than the spring flowering Alliums, and it flowers for longer too. There are some cracking Verbena’s Lolliop ready to go. Don’t miss out on this very popular line. Coreopsis are now in bud in a great range of colours. A couple of the summer flowering Crocosmia are now in bud, The taller and very red Lucifer and the more compact golden yellow George Davidson. Emberglow, another red but shorter than Lucifer, is only a week or so away from bud showing too. Summer must be here with bud on several of the Agapanthus varieties. Quite a few Leucanthemum in bud now, the first of many flowers to come. We have plenty of Scabiosa in bud in a range of colours, another long flowering summer star. Garden Pinks (Dianthus) are back in bud again after recovering from our ever-hungry rampaging hares. More summer stars are coming out now with bud appearing on the Gaura, Bidens and the Salvia’s too are now showing plenty of bud and now a bit of colour too. Oxalis Iron Cross is back on the list and in bud, after we gave it the Chelsea Chop just short time ago. We cut them right back to compost and there now back on show again, looking great. Phlox paniculata varieties are showing bud on super strong stems, get them quick before they go. 

Herb sales seem to be booming this year; it must be all that healthy home cooking we are being encouraged to do. Lots of stock is coming through nicely now and the tender herbs like Basil are now making their summertime appearance. Strawberries are looking great, especially those showing colour. Tarragon is back and the Mints have recovered nicely too. 

Best wishes from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.

Hairy mist

Hi. 

Here comes the heat again, for the south-east and central southern areas anyway. Hoping it doesn’t get quite as hot as last time and that it passes by more quickly too. The way the heat is intensifying over Europe again doesn’t bode well for keeping things cool here, but a least for us there is always that cooler Atlantic air mass waiting close by to cool us down when the wind eventually turns again. The regularity of extreme heat patterns across Europe I find quite scary. I fear we are now too late to do anything about it? We are trying to do our bit here, but I fear the drive for commercial gain and self-gratification among the wealthier populations of the world is just too strong a tide to turn. It’s always someone else’s fault, I know. 

Our two young folk have travelled up to take a look at the HTA National Plant Show today and have a catch up on what is ‘going down’ among all the coolest production nurseries. It is a long time since we took a stand there to show our wares, I think it was 2014 and 2015. It was just after the demise of the Woking Show which was always our regular more localised event of the summer. We only attended the National Plant Show a couple of times, but despite the excited attention we attracted over the two days, it didn’t actually bring in much new business. Most of the interest seemed to be based in Scotland or other outer reaches of the country or was from interested visitors wanting to talk about the concept rather than actually buy anything. Since then, the demand for our stock has been such that ‘word of mouth’ has been sufficient advertising to keep a fresh flow of customers coming our way each season, which is a great way to progress if a little passive for modern business practices. We do tend to travel our own path anyway, which has taken us off the beaten track, creating a unique plant growing business which most of the time now advertises itself. Well, that’s the theory! 

After major expansion of our seed sowing operations over the last 15 months, to increase our peat-free propagated range, we have now also started rooting more cuttings too. I built a small mist unit last summer in our now unused micro-prop weaning tunnel, but the solenoid controller was never set up properly and we struggled with things getting either far too wet or too dry. This winter we installed a more sophisticated TomTech control computer in the prop tunnel, along with new temperature and humidity sensors and better control switch-work on the mist unit itself. It has taken a while to set things up just right, but the results have been really encouraging, to the point where it became apparent this week that we didn’t have enough capacity under the updated mist area. Luckily, I already had some spare mist nozzles in stock and plenty of pipework so after a £25 pipe fitting purchase, I was able to glue a load of bits together and double the area the unit covered. A great result which hopefully will extend our range of homegrown young plants even further.  

Social media on trend To find our Instagram content try our username @thehairypotplantcompany  or use the link below; https://www.instagram.com/thehairypotplantcompany?igsh=MXhhMGxhcjgzNGYydA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr 

Availability list. 

Plant growth is rampant, the plants loved the cooler temperatures and wetter conditions. Lots of bud and plenty of colour. Small and compact the Lewisia Elise have plenty of bud already and will flower all summer long. The ever-popular Erigeron karv. Stallone has loads of bud and flower, ready for a summer full of pretty little daisy flowers. The pretty Foam Flower Tiarella wherrii are now in flower and bud We already have several Asters in bud this week, which are usually something we associate with late summer!  The early summer flowering Allium Millenium is now producing bud. It’s a cracker, much tidier foliage and habit than the spring flowering Alliums, and it flowers for longer too. There are some cracking Verbena’s ready to go. Don’t miss out on these very popular lines Coreopsis are now in bud in a great range of colours. Summer must be here with bud on several of the Agapanthus varieties. Quite a few Leucanthemum in bud now, the first of many flowers to come. We have a few Scabiosa in bud, more to follow, another long flowering summer star. Garden Pinks (Dianthus) are back in bud again after recovering from our ever-hungry rampaging hares. The super popular Nemesia Wisley Vanilla is back on the list and there are follow-on batches coming too.  More summer stars are coming out now with bud appearing on the Gaura, Bidens and the Salvia’s too are now showing plenty of bud and now a bit of colour too. Oxalis triangularis is back on the list and in bud, after we took it off due to some frost damage on the leaf edges, just short time ago. We cut them back to compost and there now back on show again, looking grand. Phlox paniculata varieties are showing bud on super strong stems, get them quick before they go. Herb sales seem to be booming this spring; it must be all that healthy home cooking we are being encouraged to do. Lots of stock is coming through nicely now and even the tender herbs like Basil are now making their summertime appearance. Strawberries are looking great, especially those showing colour. Tarragon is back and the Mints have recovered too. 

Best wishes from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries. 

Hairy Jive

Hi. 

Another lovely week with plenty of showers although possibly a bit cool at times. Next week down here looks a cracker with drier conditions, more sun but temperatures still sensible rather than silly. Our single biggest young plant delivery of the year pitched up this morning, all looking strong and healthy. Most of it is for next spring although hopefully we may get a few out by the autumn. It has taken me most of the day to unpack it, give a few varieties a trim, put them down in the right place and check it all off. There are a few new varieties in there which will be interesting to see how they do, and best of all out of 396 trays only 5 still had some peat in them, so nearly all will be available to our National Trust and RHS sites. We definitely missed out on a few sales this winter with only a couple of varieties of our Helleborus being propagated in peat-free modules, but this time they are all peat-free. We have had notification of the date when our electric van will be finished, only a couple of weeks to go. We will then need to do a bit of tinkering at our end with registration numbers and one or two internal tweaks and then we will be ready to roll, using plenty of our home-produced energy to deliver our plastic free plants. Another big step forwards.  

We are installing a couple of new 3 phase 23 Kw chargers to supplement our existing one, in a position on the nursery that can serve two vans at a time, but the knock-on effect of a delay in our generator replacement means they won’t be operational in time for the van delivery. For the first few weeks we will have to block the farm track in order to reach the existing charger which isn’t ideal as they rapidly approach harvest time. One day one of my master plans will come together. As well as having a busy sales week, which always perks everyone up (we haven’t been perked much so far this spring!) 

I’ve had a brilliant time getting away from the nursery and onto the jive dancefloor! Last Saturday was one of Danny’s (our young good-looking driver) big events at the Winchester Guildhall, 3 dance floors and a D-Day themed Ball. There was a 16-piece 1940’s big band in the main-hall with most people dressing for the occasion. 4 hours of solid dancing is certainly a good way to keep fit, have a laugh and take your mind off everything else. By midnight I could barely walk back to the car.  That was followed by more moves in Basingstoke on Monday and Winchester again on Tuesday, My legs don’t know what’s hit them. 

Social media on trend I believe there might be a little video clip of the current batches of strawberry on Instagram. To find our Instagram content try our username @thehairypotplantcompany  or use the link below; https://www.instagram.com/thehairypotplantcompany?igsh=MXhhMGxhcjgzNGYydA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr 

Availability list. 

Plant growth is rampant, the plants are loving the cooler temperatures and wetter conditions. Lots of bud and plenty of colour. Small and compact the Lewisia Elise have plenty of bud already and will flower all summer long. The ever-popular Erigeron karv. Stallone has loads of bud and flower, ready for a summer full of pretty little daisy flowers. Compact varieties of Achillea Milly Rock are looking great, chunky stock with plenty of flower shoots appearing. The pretty Foam Flower Tiarella wherrii are now in flower and bud We already have several Asters in bud this week, which are usually something we associate with late summer!  

The early summer flowering Allium Millenium is now producing bud. It’s a cracker, much tidier foliage and habit than the spring flowering Alliums, and it flowers for longer too. There are some cracking Verbena’s ready to go. Don’t miss out on these very popular lines Nice chunky Lupins have the first of multiple buds appearing, They should flower for ages. Coreopsis are now in bud in a great range of colours. Summer must be here with bud on several of the Agapanthus varieties. Quite a few Leucanthemum in bud now, the first of many flowers to come. We have a few Scabiosa in bud, more to follow, another long flowering summer star. Garden Pinks (Dianthus) are back in bud again after recovering from our ever-hungry rampaging hares. The super popular Nemesia Wisley Vanilla is back on the list and there are follow-on batches coming too.  

More summer stars are coming out now with bud appearing on the Gaura, Bidens and the too are now showing plenty of bud and now a bit of colour too. Oxalis triangularis is back on the list and in bud, after we took it off due to some frost damage on the leaf edges, just short time ago. We cut them back to compost and there now back on show again, looking grand. Phlox paniculata varieties are showing bud on super strong stems, get them quick before they go. 

Herb sales seem to be booming this spring; it must be all that healthy home cooking we are being encouraged to do. Lots of stock is coming through nicely now and even the more tender herbs like Basil are now making their springtime appearance. Strawberries are looking great, especially the those showing colour. Tarragon is back and the Mints have recovered too. 

Best wishes from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.

Hairy and rampant

Hi. 

That was a much better week, a lot cooler and a nice drop of rain spread over several days. Just what the gardens needed. Sales recovered nicely and productivity took a big step in the right direction. 

Realisation has crept in that we are getting into that mad period when sales are still bowling along, while at the same time we need to start clearing tunnels for next seasons crops. We had a good number of our Rosemarys for next spring arrive this week and the first of our big Dutch module deliveries for next year arrives next week. This usually sparks mild panic, with not enough time or space to cope with all the stock and nursery activity, but I’m hoping this year will be a bit more controlled. Mind you, I always think we are going to be better organised than last year and it’s never actually come true before. 

As I expected this probably wasn’t the best year to expand the workforce with sales not quite exciting enough and production knocked out of kilter last summer by the new demands for peat-free propagation material from some sectors of our market. We also shut our micro-prop lab last summer which created some disruption, although it freed up more of our propagation area for doing more of our own traditionally propagated stock. A new mist unit in there has helped keep the cutting propagation viable with very good success rates and the seed sowing has been better this year after several disasters with peat-free seed composts last season. The peat-free glue plug modules are still proving to produce better young plants than our loose-fill modules, especially with the slower growing varieties, but we can’t get those in our reusable trays which means more use of single use plastic, all very frustrating.  

Talking of frustration, the electric van should have been here a couple of weeks ago but the backdoor loading ramp, which is made by a separate company, has been delayed. Shouldn’t be long.  Don’t forget to get your stocks in of our ’take-me-home’ plants, good for physical and mental health of your staff and customers, great for wildlife and the environment and helps keeps our heads above water! 

Social media on trend I believe there might be a little video clip of the current batches of strawberry on Instagram. To find our Instagram content try our username @thehairypotplantcompany  or use the link below; https://www.instagram.com/thehairypotplantcompany?igsh=MXhhMGxhcjgzNGYydA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr 

Availability list. 

Plant growth is rampant, the plants are loving the cooler temperatures and wetter conditions. Lots of bud and plenty of colour. Small and compact the Lewisia Elise have plenty of bud already and will flower all summer long. All three Erigeron’s are nicely in bud and looking summery. The ever-popular Erigeron karv. Stallone has loads of bud, ready for a full summer of scrambling pretty little daisy flowers. Compact varieties of Achillea Milly Rock are looking great, chunky stock with plenty of flower shoots appearing. The pretty Foam Flower Tiarella wherrii are now in flower and bud We already have several Asters in bud this week, which are usually something we associate with late summer!The early summer flowering Allium Millenium is now producing bud. It’s a cracker, much tidier foliage and habit than the spring flowering Alliums, and it flowers for longer too. Not such spectacular flowerheads perhaps but a great garden plant. There are some cracking Verbena’s ready to go. Don’t miss out on these very popular lines. I am sorry we ran out earlier, there popularity caught me out again. Nice chunky Lupins have the first of multiple buds appearing, They should flower for ages. Coreopsis are now in bud in a great range of colours. Summer must be here with bud on a couple of the Agapanthus varieties. Quite a few Leucanthemum in bud now, the first of many flowers to come. We have a few Scabiosa in bud, more to follow, another long flowering summer star. Garden Pinks (Dianthus) are back in bud again after recovering from our ever-hungry rampaging hares. The super popular Nemesia Wisley Vanilla is back on the list and there are follow-on batches coming too.  More summer stars are coming out now with bud appearing on the Gaura, Bidens and the Salvia’s too are now showing plenty of bud and now a bit of colour too. Oxalis triangularis is back on the list and in bud, after we took it off due to some frost damage on the leaf edges, just short time ago. We cut them back to compost and there now back on show again, looking grand. Phlox paniculata varieties are showing bud on super strong stems, get them quick before they go. 

Herb sales seem to be booming this spring; it must be all that healthy home cooking we are being encouraged to do. Lots of stock is coming through nicely now and even the more tender herbs like Basil are now making their springtime appearance. Strawberries are looking great, especially the those showing colour. Tarragon is back and the Mints have recovered too. 

Best wishes from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries. 

Hairy Summer

Hi. 

I hope you coped ok last week especially if you got baked like us in the south.  With a bit of luck that is summer done and dusted. It was a crazy hot week for May and disrupted so much stuff, from irrigation nozzle blow-outs where the rubber flanges softened in the heat, to the air compressor not working after midday when it’s thermal cut-out clicked in. Productivity dropped through the floor as people struggled to cope as we had to find jobs they could do in the shade and by a fan. The now redundant lab buildings were restarted so we could get some air-con relief during break times, although there were a few who seem to revel in the high temperatures and they did allow us to get some things done as planned.  Sales were hit fairly hard which is understandable, but with cooler weather and some welcome rain due next week hopefully things will bounce back. 

One of our drivers commented on how exciting and attractive our stock was looking in several sites he visited this week. The larger stock supplied by others at much higher prices appeared to be less attractive having moved into a less impulsive price bracket and of course lacking the extra feel-good factor of a plastic-free hairy pot purchase! The trouble is that we are so used to handling our own hairy pots and wooden boxes, anything incorporating plastics seems a bit run-of-the-mill, unnatural and off-trend. 

Don’t forget we will be keeping a wide range of attractive perennials and herbs going in our 13cm pots right through until the Autumn, and all at take-me-home prices! Big day today for Caroline. Not allowed to say how old other than she hasn’t caught me up yet. We celebrated in the usual way, cake for all at coffee break and another late night on the nursery. Luckily with being slightly less busy than usual I was able to slip out for a couple of hours over the Bank Holiday and make some special purchases, mostly involving a small collection of terracotta planters to freshen up the back door area. It went down a lot better than the bag of organic spinach I produced one year! What a lucky girl. 

Social media on trend To find our Instagram content, I am told you can try our username @thehairypotplantcompany  or use the link below; https://www.instagram.com/thehairypotplantcompany?igsh=MXhhMGxhcjgzNGYydA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr 

Availability list. 

The heat this week has pushed a few more varieties into bud which is great for adding even more excitement on the sales benches. We even have a few Asters in bud this week, which are usually something we associate with late summer! Compact varieties of Achillea Milly Rock are looking great, chunky stock with plenty of flower shoots appearing. The pretty Foam Flower Tiarella wherrii are now in flower and bud All three Erigeron’s are nicely in bud and looking summery. Tight growth making neat compact plants. The early summer flowering Allium Millenium is now producing bud. It’s a cracker, much tidier foliage and habit than the spring flowering Alliums, and it flowers for longer too. Not such spectacular flowerheads perhaps but a great garden plant. There are some cracking Verbena’s ready to go. Don’t miss out on these very popular lines. I am sorry we ran out earlier, there popularity caught me out again. Coreopsis are now in bud in a nice range of colours. Summer must be here with bud on a couple of the Agapanthus varieties. 

Small and compact the Lewisia Elise have plenty of bud already and will flower all summer long. Quite a few Leucanthemum in bud now, the first of many flowers to come. We have a few Scabiosa with their first buds, more to follow, another long flowering summer star. Garden Pinks (Dianthus) were coming ready with bud appearing fast, but the hares have had all but two varieties for dinner!  The ever-popular Nemesia Wisley Vanilla is back on the list and there are follow-on batches coming too.  More summer stars are coming out now with bud appearing on the Gaura, Bidens and the Salvia’s too are now showing plenty of bud and now a bit of colour too. A nice illustration of the contrast in weather patterns over the past few weeks, is that Oxalis triangularis is back on the list and in bud, after we took it off due to some frost damage on the leaf edges, just a couple of weeks ago. We cut them back to compost and there now back on show again, looking grand. Erysimum Bowles Mauve are still flowering. A couple of fresh batches of Fire and Sunset are back on the list, full of promise. Summer cliff top walks always spring to my mind when I see Armeria coming into bud, and now’s your chance to take a stroll. Many Hosta’s have put in an appearance. Always a precursor to Spring proper, they are up and away. Phlox paniculata varieties are showing bud on super strong stems, get them quick before they go. 

Herb sales seem to be booming this spring; it must be all that healthy home cooking we are being encouraged to do. Lots of stock is coming through nicely now and even the more tender herbs like Basil are now making their springtime appearance. 

Best wishes from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries. 

Hairy and out of date

Hi. 

Here we are, the last of the Spring bank holidays is upon us, and the sun has come to welcome everyone into their gardens. Slightly frustrating that we move from vests and jackets to too much exposure over 24 hours, but a change from cold nights to a heatwave is where we are. Looks like it will calm down again in a week, but let’s hope the brief heatwave and holiday spirit will get everyone excited enough to loosen those purse strings over the next few days. We were hit this week with a combination of holidays and a lot of illness among the team, some more serious than others but all throwing a spanner in the works. Luckily the drivers all showed up so we still managed to get all the orders out before the end of the week which is always the main focus of a spring week. The biggest invalid was of course myself, hit with man-flu since last weekend, so everyone else suffers too. I’ve been dosing up on Lemsip and honey which has worked a treat in subduing the symptoms, I think the vintage state of the Lemsip added an extra kick as Caroline had me using up her parents old stock which had a use by date of 2020. Don’t care, it got me through. 

Electrician has been on-site all week again setting up a new distribution board and cabling for the replacement generator that is on order and tidying up the new charging station for the new EV van due in the next couple of weeks. The special automatic transfer switch which starts the generator in the event of a power cut was due to be ready for delivery in 2 or 3 days from ordering, it is now going to be 3 weeks. They saw me coming. Good news from the DVLA this week as they have announced that from June 1st 2026, you will no longer need to use a tachograph in an EV if the GVW is under 4.25 tonnes. Ours will be 4 tonnes, so that will save all the drivers having to get a ‘drivers card’ to put into the tacho recorder. Not quite sure how hauliers are expected to plan their investments in EV’s when these announcements are made at such short notice. There were very strong rumours that this was going to happen, but we weren’t sure quite when. We have been so lucky to order ours several weeks before the rush of orders that is likely to follow this change in the rules. There will still be a speed limiter, keeping the top speed to 57 mph, but that should reduce the temptation to go faster and keep efficiency up on the battery usage. 

We should have cleared most of the vital potting before the weekend, so that frees me up for another batch of seed sowing in the peace and quiet. Caroline should have been going to Wembley to watch Southampton on Saturday, but the embarrassing spy-gate scandal has put an end to all that. That is one PR exercise I’m glad I don’t have to deal with, the tarnish of cheating at such a high level  will be quite hard to remove.  Must go, I am under orders to get home 15 minutes ago so I can clean up before visiting relatives. What fun. 

Social media on trend To find our Instagram content, I am told you can try our username @thehairypotplantcompany  or use the link below; https://www.instagram.com/thehairypotplantcompany?igsh=MXhhMGxhcjgzNGYydA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr 

Availability list. 

The early summer flowering Allium Millenium is now producing bud. It’s a cracker, much tidier foliage and habit than the spring flowering Alliums, and it flowers for longer too. Not such spectacular flowerheads perhaps but a great garden plant. Coreopsis are now in bud in a nice range of colours. Summer must be here with bud on a couple of the Agapanthus varieties. Small and compact the Lewisia Elise have plenty of bud already and will flower all summer long. Quite a few Leucanthemum in bud now, the first of many flowers to come. We have a few Scabiosa Butterfly Blue with their first buds, more to follow, another long flowering summer star. Garden Pinks (Dianthus) were coming ready with bud appearing fast, but the hares have had the lot for dinner!  The ever popular Nemesia Wisley Vanilla is back on the list and there are follow-on batches coming too, but possibly not quite enough to maintain a constant supply, but it will keep reappearing! More summer stars are coming out now with bud appearing on the Bidens and the Salvia’s too are showing the odd bud although still a week or two away from colour I think. Erysimum Bowles Mauve are still flowering.  Summer cliff top walks always spring to my mind when I see Armeria coming into bud, and now’s your chance to take a stroll. Many Hosta’s have put in an appearance. Always a precursor to Spring proper, they are up and away. 

Herb sales seem to be booming this spring; it must be all that healthy home cooking we are being encouraged to do. Lots of stock is coming through nicely now and even the more tender herbs like Basil are now making their springtime appearance. 

Best wishes from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries. 

Hairy suprise

Hi.

I can’t believe another week has passed already and it’s halfway through May. Unfortunately, outside it still feels like March or early April at a push, we’ve had very cold winds, frosts, heavy showers of rain and more dramatically hail. Looks like it is going to warm up a bit over the next week and with a few showers to dampen the ground a bit more, we could be in for a good gardening session. Hopefully a boost in plant sales will benefit everyone, fingers crossed. Our drivers are still coming home which very positive responses from our delivery recipients, which is always great to hear. When the season isn’t quite as exciting as perhaps, we may have hoped, it is very easy to blame yourself for not doing a good enough job in growing and preparing the plants for sale, so some positive feedback is always nice to hear about.  

After last week’s panic about the phone system losing the plot, after another IT ‘upgrade’, everything has now settled down. It turned out to be a setup issue with the new network switch and not a problem with the phone box on the wall, so no phone system upgrade required just yet. Pete the electrician has been on-site most of the week setting up new 3 phase cabling and distribution boards for the van charging stations, A bigger job than I expected but what’s new there. Next week he is back to sort out the cabling and more gear for the new generator, which although I was told it might be delivered in a couple of weeks, won’t be here for at least another 5, possibly longer.  I’m really looking forward to getting all this electric stuff sorted and plugging in the new electric van. We are producing all this excess power at the moment, from the solar array and wind turbines, and we really need to be using it ourselves to get some decent value out of it. We only get 6p/kWhr for exporting it and if we used it ourselves, we would be saving 28p. What will be exciting, will be seeing some of our plants being delivered to our customers using our own generated energy, it feels like another big step in doing what we do as sustainably as we can. 

Had a surprise late on Sunday evening, with a call from the driver of the Dutch potting compost lorry. Could I let him know when we would be open in the morning and had I any idea where he could park up overnight?  Once he told me he was actually already outside the nursery gate, it was always going to be easier to deal with it straight away. Not the perfect Sunday evening, but it was good to get him in and unloaded while the place was quiet and he was very pleased to be on his way home 12 hrs earlier than he expected. It meant we could start the week with plenty of potting materials ready to go, as well as not having a big lorry messing about in the yard while we are trying to get started on picking and processing all the orders. 

We’ve had a good week on the production side of things, as there is plenty of tunnel space ready to fill, after a reasonable run of sales over the past few weeks. We set a potting team going on Tuesday for a bit and then full-on before Wednesday lunchtime while the rest of the team finished off all the orders. Running both teams at the same time is always a bit tense and very hand to mouth in its operation, but there is simply no substitute for running the potting machine for more hours to pot more stock. The later in the week you start the machine to less gets done.  Lovely fresh stock of wooden box parts arrived this week, only 7 months after ordering. It is just me, isn’t it?  Social media on trend To find our Instagram content, I am told you can try our username @thehairypotplantcompany  or use the link below; https://www.instagram.com/thehairypotplantcompany?igsh=MXhhMGxhcjgzNGYydA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr 

Availability list. 

The early summer flowering Allium Millenium is now producing bud. It’s a cracker, much tidier foliage and habit than the spring flowering Alliums, and it flowers for longer too. Not such spectacular flowerheads perhaps but a great garden plant. Quite a few Leucanthemum in bud now, the first of many flowers to come. Our Garden Pinks (Dianthus) are coming ready with bud appearing fast.  The ever popular Nemesia Wisley Vanilla is back on the list and there are follow-on batches coming too, but possibly not quite enough to maintain a constant supply, but it will keep reappearing! More summer stars are coming out now with bud appearing on the Osteospermum Bidens and Lewisia. The Salvia’s too are showing the odd bud although still a week or two away from colour I think. Erysimum Bowles Mauve are still flowering and follow-on batches of Superbowl Mauve are also ready to go, but with bud only just beginning to appear. Summer cliff top walks always spring to my mind when I see Armeria coming into bud, and now’s your chance to take a stroll! The Phlox subulata varieties are nice and compact with colour showing. And finally, many Hosta’s have put in an appearance. Always a precursor to Spring proper, they are up and away. Herb sales seem to be booming this spring; it must be all that healthy home cooking we are being encouraged to do. Lots of stock is coming through nicely now and even the more tender herbs like Basil are now making their springtime appearance.  

Best wishes from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries. 

Hairy and hectic

Hi. 

Just a quick one as I’m struggling to keep up this week. The orders have been rolling in after a better bank holiday weekend than predicted, and everything else seems to be kicking off, some exciting, but most of it very expensive. Preparations for the electric van continue with a couple of 3 phase 22kw chargers on order and the electrician running up a quote to install a new distribution board, cabling and sockets for those chargers. As part of the electric re-jig we are having to replace our ancient and unreliable generator with something a bit quieter, cleaner and cleverer. It is going to be installed on an existing concrete pad next to the meter shed, which seemed like a cheap and easy option, but by the time new wiring, auto transfer switches and new distribution boards are installed the cost of the generator is likely to double. It’s like a roller coaster I can’t seem to get off, one positive advance turns into a waterfall of extra costs.  To add to the positive financial mood of the day, our new IT people who successfully helped us update onto the cloud, have today upgraded our Wi-Fi hubs, firewall and network switch gear so that we are ‘more secure’, plug and play, it’s all so simple. Now the telephone system won’t work correctly (so if you can’t get through please try emailing us at nurseries@kirtonfarm.co.uk) and they say this nothing to do with them, but if we changed from our reasonably new box on the wall to an on-line system, it would all be better. Also, the CCTV system which they said would work better once everything was upgraded, has also been written off because it doesn’t fit with the new levels of firewall security and we would need to replace it if we wanted to be secure on the whole network. So it looks like we have to replace a perfectly good phone system and cctv (it is Chinese!) to fit in with the new level of cyber security. Yet another rollercoaster I got stuck on. 

I had a very interesting visit from one of our Dutch compost makers this week. After some poor results using loose fill peatfree propagation composts last summer, when compared to the peat-free glue plugs we have used for many years, I developed a little theory that the problem was the fine particles in the loose mixes moving into the air spaces when watered over a period. This doesn’t tend to happen in peat-based mixes due to the different physical properties of peat. In conversation today he confirmed that the glue plugs hold the finer particles in a solid structure so the blocking of the air spaces doesn’t happen, but my idea to ask the manufacturers to try and remove some of these finer particles would fall on deaf ears because it is just too much trouble to go to, for the relatively small UK peat-free propagation market. The coir propagation mix we are using now is much better than others we have tried but still has too much dust to make a perfect mix, but they won’t take it out. I suspect we will have to adjust our sowing strategy and move the slower germinating, more difficult lines, into glue plugs which would mean new seeding bars, dibbers and delivery tubes to fit onto the sowing machine. Looks like another rollercoaster to ride. On the positive side the weather is lovely and the birds are singing.

The solar is generating nicely again now the cable has been repaired, and tomorrow is the day to tilt our panels to their full summer setting of 17 degrees. They will stay there until August when they start to stand up again. Hopefully in a few weeks we can really start to make good use of all that solar generation when the electric van arrives, and we can soak up a big dollop of energy each day. Something must go in the right direction soon. We had a fab holiday weekend here when I managed to talk Caroline into potting Saturday, Sunday and Monday, so we got lots done. I think she is hoping for a rest this time, and she might be lucky as we look like running out of compost by the end of Friday and the next load isn’t due until Tuesday. I’m sure I can still think of a few things we can do together, that repaired solar cable still needs re-burying! 

Social media on trend To find our Instagram content, I am told you can try our user name @thehairypotplantcompany  or use the link below; https://www.instagram.com/thehairypotplantcompany?igsh=MXhhMGxhcjgzNGYydA%3D%3D&utm_source=qr 

Availability list. 

Our Garden Pinks (Dianthus) are coming ready with bud appearing fast.  The ever popular Nemesia Wisley Vanilla is back on the list and there are follow-on batches coming too, but possibly not quite enough to maintain a constant supply, but it will keep reappearing! Erysimum Bowles Mauve are still flowering and follow-on batches of a couple of other varieties are also ready to go, but with bud only just beginning to appear. The Phlox subulata varieties are nice and compact with colour showing. And finally, many Hosta’s have put in an appearance. Always a precursor to Spring proper, they are up and away. 

Herb sales seem to be booming this spring; it must be all that healthy home cooking we are being encouraged to do. Lots of stock is coming through nicely now, although it will still be week or two before the more tender herbs like Basil make their springtime appearance. We only have a tiny amount of heated production space, so we are limited on production timings of these more tender subjects. 

Best wishes from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.