What a great run of weather, maybe we could with a drop of rain, just as long as it is at night. This morning is fantastic, early nip, bit of mist, blue skies and no wind, a perfect day to get outside and get to grips with life the universe and everything. I am expecting a change in attitude to the windless days in a few months time, but not today.

Another hectic week has passed, we sent out more deliveries this week than we have done for years, the fuel bill is growing but luckily the sales are there to cover that. Next we have a bonkers three weeks when the bank holidays and peak season will combine for a fun time for all. Hopefully we can all revel in the fact that we are all so popular at the moment rather than panic at the impending workload and lack of time. We will be pulling as many rabbits out of the hat as we can so do bear with us as we do our very best to make things go smoothly.

On top of the busy week we also had our Winchester Business Awards judging visit as finalists in the Green Innovation section and the overall Business of the Year. Despite my fears of a lack of written plans the nursery walk-round provided loads of examples of what we have done, what’s half way through and what is coming up providing we can find the funding. This seemed to get everyone quite excited although afterwards I kept thinking of bits I had missed out, like the ponds we put in, the LED lighting we are looking at in the lab growth room and worst miss of all, the handmade Christmas cards we slave over!

On the awards front, I was astonished to receive the player of the season of our old gits hockey team at the club bash on Friday night. I now have a small but heavyweight plaque on the mantelpiece, which I believe is made of solid green, as discovered by Lord Percy (Blackadder).

All the warm weather has got the insects going, the wasps and flies have all made an early rather dopey appearance. I’m hopeless with flies, something about them just makes me very tense. It is something to do with their second sense of what they can do to cause maximum irritation. Classic last night with Caroline reporting a whopper in the bathroom. Checked it out with the swatter and nothing, at least not until I got in the shower. Then of course it appears and gets in too, restricted space, lots of water, dopey fly, a recipe for true slapstick, good job no one saw that.

Eco news
End of March electric savings up to 28.24% on the 2009 figures, 7.7% on 2010. Extra savings this year probably down to the milder late winter. Looking forward to next year when we should be generating our own and hopefully selling a bit back to the grid.

The grid folk are currently (no pun intended) sorting out the way leaves across the field where the new cable has to go, then hopefully we will have some dates provided so we can organise the trenching and foundation works. Lull before the storm.

Nature ramblings

Fantastic sighting of the Red Kite this week. It must have been searching for food, performing repeated circles quite low to the ground over the nursery and the next field.

Swallows in residence and very active.

Jackdaws are nesting somewhere, I caught one perched on one of the donkeys backs pulling out the moulting hairs. It was there for ages with a great beak full.

There rabbits are at it. Our young cat Spare has been waddling around for a couple of weeks now, full of baby rabbit, leaving the odd half eaten trophy in the house just to let us know he is earning his keep. In this lovely weather even our ancient two are showing an interest. Seeing what the youngsters get up to gets the mind going even if the body can’t follow it up. Bit like me at the hockey dinner dance.

Have a good week, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries

It’s a perfect summer day for me, bright but not too hot, no distractions from getting stuff done and I’m not the England goalkeeper!  Poor chap, he will be waking up this morning knowing that one tiny lapse in concentration will haunt him for the rest of his life, still luckily it is only a game. I hope the start of the World Cup doesn’t kill the interest, activity and wallet opening associated with the outdoor pastimes, the weather seems to be in our favour still, with a nice bit of rain and cooler temperatures last week. We still have a lovely range of stuff to sell, with all the summer lines now starting and the herb range wider than ever. We have cut back quantities now as things slow up a bit but things do look pretty yummy. (Don’t chew on the lemongrass too long it can bite back a few hours later!)

The planning application comments period ends on Wednesday (16th) and we now have quite a collection of positive inputs which is great. It does take a few days for the comments to appear on the website sometimes so we won’t see the full response until later in the week.

Met the new bank manager this week which is always a bit of a tense occasion as everyone tries to suss each other out.  He seemed very on the ball and customer service orientated, so hopefully we will get lots of support and encouragement and not too much hassle.  Luckily the figures he was working from showed a significant improvement in performance from 2008 (shockingly bad year for us) to 2009. Despite the slow start we have made more improvements this spring, so we hope to keep in his good books.  He was delighted that we were getting out of producing for the multiples as he had seen the soul destroying effects that these customers can have on companies of our limited size.  I must say nursery life is quite exciting again now we have taken control back for ourselves rather than running it for their benefit. We seem to be pressing all the right buttons for the bank at the moment, let’s hope we can keep it up and perhaps even make a profit!

Eco Update

Another month has slipped by, and the meters are read again and we have now reduced our electric consumption this year by 19.79%.  Hurrah, this means that if we ever get the planning stuff sorted we could produce our entire needs with the turbines and possibly have a bit spare to put back in the grid.

Planning application for our three small wind turbines. If you would like to take a look follow this link;

http://planningapplications.winchester.gov.uk/PlanningWeb/Results.aspx?ID=10%2f00895%2fFUL&tab=0

Consultation ends on the 16th June. So please if you have a view express it on the comments button on the planning website. Thanks.

Nature notes

I have seen an adult moorhen feeding around the nursery for weeks now and yesterday disturbed her with a well grown large youngster, so she must have had a nest knocking about somewhere on the nursery.  We usually get a nest somewhere on site, although we don’t often get a successful outcome, so that was nice to see.

Red Kites over three times this week.
Lots of young goldfinches fluttering about following the parents around, scrounging food (sound familiar?)
Housemartins doing lots of house building, they are gathering mud from around a puddle we keep going for them in the yard.  The natural soil is a bit light and crumbly for them and they seem to prefer the yard surface which has a higher clay content.
Swallow chicks have hatched, looks like 4 heads peaking out.  A second pair arrived last week, but don’t seem to be able to settle on a nest site.

Don't forget to do your bit. Have a good week, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries