What a beautiful day it was on Saturday, we could do with a few more like that to reduce the damp levels and get us all into the mood for some spring sales.

It has been an up and down week with a quite a few of the previous week’s challenges now sorted out. The wood-saw is up and running again, computer ok and I located and received delivery of three new tunnel covers and a new twin skin inflation fan at a bargain price. A new iron is in place but the scales are still reading far too high. It wasn’t quite all plain sailing, after resetting the turbine blade tips a couple of times in the storms over the holidays we had to do it all again on Monday when another power blip during a storm put all three turbines out with each having deployed a blade tip. Caroline was up the masts as soon as the rain stopped and the wind dropped a bit so we only lost a few hours output. Caroline to the rescue again.

One of the laminar air flow cabinets in the lab needed a major refit this week after the fan motor seized. Several hundred pounds later we have a new fan and filter fitted and running and on the bonus side the new motor is more efficient than the old one so in a few years we will have clawed back some of the cost and the carbon footprint shrinks again. A nice little batch of timber came in on Friday to help rebuild the few tunnel doors that succumbed to the recent breezes. Luckily we took a decision a few years ago to forgo solid doors on most tunnels so it is only the main work areas that still have this luxury, otherwise we would have had a big job on after the past few weeks.

There are definite signs of spring with some of the early bulbs that are definitely showing strongly, just enough to provide that encouragement that better times are just round the corner.

Hoping for a window of calm in the weather on Tuesday to get a tunnel cover or maybe two replaced, ready for the pricking out to get started. A heated propagation tunnel with only a single skin and a holey roof wouldn’t be the best start to our carbon savings for the year and 
we only have a couple of weeks before the pricking out gets underway and the temperature gets raised. No pressure there then.

Since the demise of The Woking Show and GAN a couple of seasons ago we haven’t ventured far from our doors to show off what we can offer, so in an effort to show that we are still alive and kicking and have something quite special to offer, we have a booked a stand at the National Plant Show at Stoneleigh in June. A two day affair of increasing importance for many wholesale nurseries it is something we must have a go at despite my reluctance to make too much of a fuss about all the ace things we have done. Although it seems like ages away I know I should be planning as much as I can now, because June will rush upon us as soon as the sales kick off. However I suspect I will give up that sensible line in favour of the usual ‘seat of the pants’ preparation we always used to do for the other shows. Why change the habits of a lifetime?

If you would like to see a quick preview of the new 2014 catalogue try the following link which takes you to a downloadable version https://www.dropbox.com/s/gm72fckfp2f2wbm/herbaceous%26herb%20catalogue%202014%20Oct%2013%20full%20DL%

20no%20pr.pdf

Availability

I know it’s very early in the year but the wild weather has at least kept things fairly mild so we have some very nice looking stock at the moment should you wish to do a little restocking for the New Year, ready for the start of mega 2014 spring plant sales.

Growth is generally fairly tight as is usual at this time of year but there are definite signs of growth and even the odd bud or two on some lines.

This seasons Euphorbia’s are looking great and many of the Erysimums are already showing signs of budding up. The Helleborus niger have a few buds too and the primroses are showing their spring colour already. Our new dwarf spring daffs are up and chunky, although I only have a few.

Box returns

Lots of boxes have been successfully repatriated so thanks for the great response to the appeal I sent out for their return. I know there are still a few out there so please do let us know if you have any ready to collect and we will schedule them in f or collection when we are next close by. Alternatively if there aren’t too many we may elect to pick them up on the next delivery in the up and coming spring rush!

Cheers.

Have a good one, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries

Happy New Year to all.

A lovely bright start to the year, just right for a potter about in the garden. Even our free draining chalk soil is struggling to cope with the frequent downpours at the moment. Looks like it might quieten down a bit as we go through the week so that is something to look forward to.

I don’t usually think there is much very special about a new year, after all it is just the next day, but there was is a definite feeling that seeing the back of two very tricky years and starting afresh a new season of hope and enthusiasm would be like a new start. 2013 finished off brilliantly with a 5 day power cut in the house over Christmas and several tunnel covers damaged in the wind. Luckily the refreshing of the screws in the tunnel sides we did before Christmas worked so it wasn’t as bad as it might have been. One of the turbines needed its wing tips resetting on Christmas morning, after power was restored to the

nursery so that was a new experience. Then Caroline had to go up again on Saturday after another short power cut. She is getting a lot more confident now we have done it a few times. The harness equipment is very solid and much easier to get on now we are more used to it and the ladder is definitely shaking less as I hold it for the dismount. It’s all go.

We really missed having electricity for so many days. It is fairly easy to cope for a short while but the lack of thermostatic controls, heating pumps, lights, and all those helpful electrical appliances and gadgets really does change things. We had heat from the wood burner, slow cooking on the Aga (on manual override) and lights from candles so we were luckier than some.

We did lots of visiting to cover the big day, some meals and to get a hot shower or two but it’s only when you go over to candlelight at 4.15 and no telly that you suddenly realise how long the evenings are at this time of year. My body clock had me ready for bed by 8.30.

So along comes a new year and we keep a close eye out for all those little pointers that say what a good year it is going to be. Just in the first few days we have had the electric saw switch break, the main computer failed to start up, the scanner refused to scan, the fan that inflates the twin skinned tunnel has stopped, the irons died (after only 29 years) and the scales must be malfunctioning. Looks like a memorable year to me. Still at least there is a lot of the year left for things to blossom.

The turbines are doing a good dollop of generating at the moment after a quiet November and early December. A steady breeze tends to suit them better rather than strong and gusty but at least they are all going thanks to our new super wing tip re-setter.

If you would like to see a quick preview of the new 2014 catalogue try the following link which takes you to a downloadable version or visit our website https://www.dropbox.com/s/gm72fckfp2f2wbm/herbaceous%26herb%20catalogue%202014%20Oct%2013%20full%20DL%20no%20pr.pdf

Availability

I know it’s very early in the year but the wild weather has at least kept things fairly mild so we have some very nice looking stock at the moment should you wish to do a little restocking after Christmas, ready for the start of mega 2014 plant sales.

Growth is generally fairly tight as is usual at this time of year but there are definite signs of growth and even the odd bud or two on some lines.

This seasons Euphorbia’s are looking great and the Erysimums are already showing signs of budding up.

The Helleborus niger have a few buds too and the primroses are showing spring colour already.

Box returns

Lots of boxes have been successfully repatriated so thanks for the great response to the appeal I sent out for their return. I know there are still a few out there so please do let us know if you have any ready to collect and we will schedule them in f or collection when we are next close by. Alternatively if there aren’t too many we may elect to pick them up on the next delivery in the up and coming spring rush!

Cheers.

Have a good one, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries

Morning all,

Merry Christmas to all. Just got back from the grocery shop and it looks like all hell is breaking loose already. We tend to go in early in the morning and have the shop to ourselves which is just right, but no such luck this morning. Doesn’t everyone else realise that this is our shop and this is our time for a quiet wander round. Lashed out on a packet of crisps and a small pack of smoked salmon as a Christmas treat, so that’s us all set up for the festive break.

Not brilliantly festive weather at the moment and more wind and rain forecast for the coming week, still at least it gets it out of the way before the spring and pushes up the turbine output.

We started consumption of the nursery cake early this year as we are a bit thin on the ground at the moment but we seem to have cleared up most of it already, delicious stuff. The decorations are back up and looking suitably traditionally tacky and well loved, another great recycling success.

Life on the nursery goes on with some great work cutting back the summer grown stock, preparing for the upcoming spring and getting some essential maintenance sorted. Greg has spent most of the last couple of weeks doing some vital but invisible work re-securing the tunnel covers. We had noticed over the last couple of months that in the strong winds the tunnel covers have not been splitting but the mounting rails have been detaching from the tunnel sides instead. This is a new issue for us and turned out to be due to the screws rusting away. I have invested in a large number of replacement screws and Greg has been removing the old ones one at a time and slipping in a new one. Sounds simple enough but with almost 3km of tunnel sides to secure and 8,000+ screws to get through it takes a while. All the oldest fixings are done now and it’s a shame the visible results are not more impressive for the effort put in, but at least I can sleep in relative peace now as the gales batter the nursery. Don’t we seem to be getting a lot of particularly strong weather systems at the moment?

Shortest day today so the evenings will be drawing out tomorrow which means spring is not too far away, hurrah. We are having a big push on the production of stock in bud or flower in 2014 and hopefully the 90+ extra lines in the catalogue will help us fill those shelves with exciting, colourful and quick selling stock. We are off to a great start with the Snakehead Fritillaries this spring. We had given up on these over the last couple of seasons after mega mouse attacks had completely destroyed the crops before they even emerged, but so far we have outwitted the rodents by keeping the pots on trolleys until they emerge and getting on top of the population with a rigorous trapping regime over the whole nursery. There are still a few about but the weekly capture rate has dropped to low single figures which is brilliant.

If you would like to see a quick preview of the new 2014 catalogue try the following link which takes you to a downloadable version or visit our website which has the up to date version;

https://www.dropbox.com/s/gm72fckfp2f2wbm/herbaceous%26herb%20catalogue%202014%20Oct%2013%20full%20DL%20no%20pr.pdf

Short of something to do? Image links for the ultimate in recycled design;

Kirton Christmas tree Mk1  https://www.dropbox.com/s/we5uvz0jf00iw0v/tree%20mk1.JPG

Kirton Christmas tree Mk2, (pre new lights)  https://www.dropbox.com/s/kvk5lx2y2tt4k9i/tree%20mk2.JPG

Fab new upcycled wood-store  https://www.dropbox.com/s/a2of4jokfgx0mzj/Woodstore%202013%201.jpg

Ok, time to go and brave the crowds again to get my little bit of special shopping done. It’s a bit early I know, Christmas Eve is still a couple of days away but I’m just hoping they haven’t sold out of hoover bags yet. She’s a lucky girl.

Have a great break and hope to hear from you all in the New Year.

Morning all,

Christmas time nearly upon us. We already have a couple of staff already off on their Christmas break which is slightly scary. Luckily Caroline says she doesn’t want anything much for Christmas so just the tree to put up and we are there. Everyone is off to the farm for a big family Christmas lunch so not too many sprouts to peel either. My homemade tree, conjured up from an old wooden venetian blind and a length of 2by2, is still going strong. Just been checking back on the photos and it dates from 2007 when it took over from the shorter lived Mk1 version. Mk1 involved screwing deciduous branches to my 2by2 but storage breakages usually meant a time consuming rebuild each festive season. I have updated the lights to leds but other than that the Mk2 is just as perfect as was then. Not much profit from me from all the Christmas decoration promotions I’m afraid but it still makes a distinct impression on any Christmas visitors!

It’s been an exciting couple of weeks with the financial results back from the accountants which were unsurprising in their content after two springs on the bounce of dodgy weather and a visit from the bank manager to discuss the results and sort out the overdraft for the next year. Luckily we do have an understanding chap who was surprisingly upbeat about all the things we have managed to do over such a tricky time. He wasn’t too worried about the figures and certainly focussed on boosting confidence rather than adding to the accumulated pressures of 2 seasons of slow sales and another cashed strapped winter. We must have pushed plenty of the right buttons so we got away with that again!

I had my interview with the Carbon Smart people last week to review the year and check up on our advances. Not a huge amount to report as we didn’t have much to invest this year, just a few replacements and upgrades to help efficiencies. The nice thing about having already done a lot of the donkey work over previous years is that we don’t have to do quite as much now to still be top performer. The great news is that we have been told we will retain our Gold certificate for 2014, I just have to wait to get the image file to update all the stationary etc.

I have been putting together the 2014 catalogue over the last few weeks but it turned out to be a bigger job than I planned. Just wanted a bit of an upgrade really, put in a bit more info, swap a few pictures about and pop in the new varieties we will be stocking (over 90 new or returning lines). I thought I might play with the paper size a bit too. All in all it turned into a marathon, but all is now complete and the hard copies will be in the post shortly. As usual it was the computer and printer challenges that hurt most, using a non standard paper size might not have been the best decision but I beat it in the end and who needs hair at my age. If you want a quick preview try the following link which takes you to a downloadable version or visit our website which will have the updated version any minute;

https://www.dropbox.com/s/gm72fckfp2f2wbm/herbaceous%26herb%20catalogue%202014%20Oct%2013%20full%20DL%20no%20pr.pdf

Short of something to do? Image links;

Christmas tree Mk1  https://www.dropbox.com/s/we5uvz0jf00iw0v/tree%20mk1.JPG

Christmas tree Mk2, (pre new lights)  https://www.dropbox.com/s/kvk5lx2y2tt4k9i/tree%20mk2.JPG

Fab new upcycled wood-store  https://www.dropbox.com/s/a2of4jokfgx0mzj/Woodstore%202013%201.jpg

Must go and dust off my baubles.

  

Box returns

Lots of boxes have been successfully repatriated so thanks for the great response to the appeal I sent out for their return. I know there are still a few out there so please do let us know if you have any ready to collect and we will schedule them in for collection when we are next close by. Alternatively if there aren’t too many we may elect to pick them up on the next delivery in the up and coming spring rush!

Please feel free to continue to keep what you need to keep our stock on display, but a gathering of our boxes used for other displays would be appreciated. If you do love the display boxes and you desperately want to keep up that image for other parts of your plant area then why not consider getting in your own stock of trays. Our supplier is C. Jackson www.cjackson.co.uk/plant_trays.htm and they can make you your own plain or branded/printed trays at a very reasonable cost.

Cheers.

Have a good one, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries