Another rather brisk morning here. Glad to be tucked out of the wind for a couple of hours, the office is a cosy 12C (everything is relative) and I’ve got to put the brain in gear to create a few coherent sentences. I know I always say it’s been a busy week, but it’s happened again. You would think that after 27 years doing this we would stand still for a moment every now and then, but we don’t seem to be able to manage that. Luckily most of the stuff happening is positive in the long run if a little inconvenient just at the moment. We managed to get the reconditioned potting machine plumbed in and running towards the end of the week. Holly, our resident potting machine expert, even managed an overhaul of the conveyor belt, which involved a fair bit of fine tuning with the lump hammer. It worked brilliantly and we now have a near silent potting process having lost the combination of crashes and groans from the machine and an incessant squeak from the conveyor that has plagued the potters for years. Luckily for everyone they can hear clearly now the latest pop tunes from their record collections!

Unfortunately Richard, who many of you will have met or talked to on the phone, is leaving us at the end of the month. He has only been working part time over the last year since his family grew in number, and he has now been offered a very attractive position back at Hillier Nurseries researching, developing and trialling new plants for their production side of things. He has helped us through an enormous period of change since he arrived all those years ago, which we do appreciate and we are left with a much more manageable and rewarding business in the end.


I had a couple of rush jobs to do this week, one a surprise and the other just something that sneaked up on me. The sneaky one was the entry into the local business awards competition. We won a category a couple of years ago (innovation, for the hairy stuff) which was nice, but we had kept a low profile since then. But with the wind turbine planning stuff over the last year we have been noticed again and have had a couple of calls encouraging us to enter. I thought I had weeks to do it but then got an email reminding me the closing date was on Friday. I put aside a couple of evenings to cobble something together, it always takes me ten times as long as I expect, but managed to get something away. Then in yesterday’s paper they have extended the dates! Still, at least it’s done. If we get through to the finals we get to go to the awards dinner and last time there were two free tickets for the finalists, that’s a bit more attractive than the £180 each for the Grower of the Year awards!

With all this change it’s always nice to have some old standards to fall back on. I always enjoy a corny play on words, I’m sure emanating from the day my dad asked me if I wanted a whole piece of toast (when we were little we might only have a half slice), after a positive response I was presented with a slice with a huge hole cut out of the middle. That was to scar me for life! Every time at home when I get offered an avocado the response is of course ‘Yes please, I’ll avacardo’. Hilarious, especially after 27 years. Saturdays example was based on the arrival of a Jamaican Ginger cake for coffee break. ‘Hmm, Jamaca cake’,‘No, I got it from Sainsburys’. When I used to do a lot of knapsack spraying, the chant accompanying the repetitive pumping action was along the lines of, ‘Red Spider Mite, Red Spider Might, Red Spider might.’ I’m easily pleased!

If for some reason you lose your list you can now download it from the http://www.kirtonfarm.co.uk/website which should have the latest up to date version.

Eco news
The surprise job on Friday was to put together a last minute proposal for the bank to fund the turbine project. Having initially been very positive last summer, then the opposite in the autumn, they have had another change of heart at the very last minute. It might turn out to be a fortunate break for us as they are looking to run a pilot lending scheme and they need some ready-to-go projects to play with. This should mean quite attractive rates/charges etc and hopefully a very quick decision, but we still have to press enough of the right buttons to qualify. I have pressed all the buttons I can and we now await some response, hopefully some time in the next week.

Have a good week, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries

What a week. We were hoping for a lull in proceedings to allow us to catch up a bit, but despite doing a Monday shift we didn’t get as far as we had hoped. We have even more staff in (when not off ill) and another starting on Monday, but it just seems that everything was against us to get very far.
Sales took quite a dip after the poor weather last weekend and I suspect will continue to be limited with the continuing coolness. We are quite relieved as it does give an opportunity to catch up, at least in theory!
The week started badly with a virulent cold sweeping the nursery (hitting me particularly hard!), I haven’t can a cold for ages and I usually save them up for holidays anyway, so this one was a surprise and the head numbing features make running the nursery even more of a challenge, although Caroline says she hasn’t noticed any difference.

The other weeks hiccups included the potting machine dying just when we need it most. Every now and then the wear in the chains reaches a point when the adjusters can’t cope and one of the chains jumps a cog or two.  This messes up the timing of the drill and makes it start drilling into the machine rather than the compost in the pots! So potting comes to a standstill while I dismantle everything, remove the chain and shorten it by removing a link. All went swimmingly until I tried to refit the chain which was now about 2mm too short to fit back together, oh fiddlesticks. After much stretching, nut loosening, hammer hitting and words of encouragement we got it back together, only to find I had knocked over the crate where I had put the chain link retaining bits and they had disappeared somewhere on the compost covered floor! That took another 20 minutes with a magnet being waved over the debris before they were reclaimed. Anyway it’s all up and running again now.
Later that day I managed to get bitten by a local dog just above the knee, when redelivering some post (I ignored the sign on the gate!) and ended up with a hole in my best work trousers (the least ink covered) and a leaky sore leg. Looking on the bright side, at least the dog wasn’t taller.
Other than the wonderful nursery life this week, the highlight was going to see The Beat in concert at Salisbury Art Centre. For those too young to remember they were a ska band from the late 70’s early 80’s (Mirror in the Bathroom, Best Friend, Too Nice to Talk Too among there many hits) and they were brilliant. Lots of sad old folk there reliving their past and judging by some of the outfits and kids in tow some still living in the past! The support band were a very talented young ska band, attired in a more up to date fashion and I must admit to desperately wanting to answer the call for any requests with ‘Yes, pull your trousers up’!

Eco Update

Still no news on wind turbine planning, but they have cashed the application fees so it must be in there somewhere.

Nature notes

House martins have been spotted, arrived on Saturday, so summer is here.

Don't forget to do your bit. Have a good week.