Good morning to all.

Most of the rain here has fallen at night which has made life a bit easier. We are lucky that we are on a nice slope to take away most of the water pretty quickly although the ground is still sodden which isn’t something we get very often on our thin chalky soil. As each storm passes we get a bit more tidying up to do but, touch wood, we seem to have got on top of most of the major repairs. Despatch, the potting tunnel and the pricking out area all got patched up this week with some fresh polythene sides and remanufactured doors,
so we are back to being reasonably secure for a bit. We still have a couple of tunnel splits we are hoping to patch up rather than reclad for the moment, as we have a couple of short lengths of plastic spare that look just right for the job. The weekend has actually looked really nice from inside, dryish and long bright sunny spells and once you in the right kit and outside being active it’s not been too bad. Hopefully after a bit of gardening tidying up those tills will start ringing again with some plant sales.

Popped out for a delicious and very social supper on Friday celebrating my brother in
laws 55th birthday. A nice bit of gentle teasing about the advancing years and dubious fashion decisions was just the job for a relaxing end to the week. Our present held high the aspirations of reaching such a grand age and the expectation of really exciting and inspirational gifts. We got him a new showerhead! I could see the excitement glowing from behind the specs. I must ring and check he has used the measuring bag to check how much hot water he will be saving in a year. Age is no barrier to an exciting life. Think I’ll just have a lie down. Checkout Hansgrohe Ecosmart for ingenious and stylish water saving on showers and taps, commercial and domestic, and  www.savemoneycutcarbon.com for a good deal and other info.

Made a great purchase this week of a special sharpening tool for quickly reviving garden blades.

www.spear-and-jackson.com/product/other-cutting/razorsharp-6-1-blade-sharpener
We use little fruit snips as one of our tidying tools but they don’t last forever and are fiddly to resharpen. I’ve already revived 18 pairs with a new lease of life which has already paid back the cost many times over. I know they aren’t quite as good as new but it will save us quite a bit and should make the work easier. I just hope we don’t get to many snippy cuts in fingers with their new found efficiency.

Must get on and make the most of the weather, still got a load of seasoned wood to saw up and I hope that in a week or two I’ll be too busy to think about that. Still haven’t had the central heating on yet this winter, so that’s one advantage of the Atlantic weather, just need to keep the log burner filled.

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

It’s still early in the year but the stormy weather has kept things fairly mild and consequently we have some very nice looking stock at the moment should you wish to do a little restocking to catch those early birds. Mega spring plant sales are just round the corner.

Growth is generally fairly tight as is usual at this time of year but there are definite signs of activity and buds on some lines.

This seasons Euphorbia’s are looking great and many of the Erysimums are already 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. Not ready yet but looking promising are the Snakes Head Fritillaries which in the past have been destroyed by the mice. This year we seem to have mastered their control with a combination of where to keep the potted plants and well monitored trapping. Fingers crossed.

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 an d 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 deliver y in the up and coming spring rush!

Cheers!

Have a good one, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries

Good
morning to all.

Rain
slowed up a bit down here this weekend, it looks like a lovely day today, just
right for a day out which is why this is going to be a brief update. Special
treat of a lunch and museum trip with friends, we know how to live it up! I’m
anticipating a refreshing and inspiring day out to set us up for the week
ahead, can’t wait.

Talking
of refreshing and inspiring stuff, there are some people and businesses that I
have seen over the years that have helped sustain my desire to be part of the
great industry we play about in. Sometimes they are the more obvious
influential big players but at other times the smaller enterprises provide a
much more realistic life affirming boost. One of those I have known over a very
long time is Penwood Nurseries near Newbury. A family run business with a
commercial but practical, gentle and understanding approach to running their
nursery. It is a model I have always admired and rather envied. Tim picked up
some plants this week and just reminded me what a strong and influential family
he is part of. Keep it up, it doesn’t matter if you are big or small we all
make a difference.

Recovery
from all those storms progressed brilliantly this week when we grabbed a window
of opportunity on Tuesday and re-covered two tunnels, including the heated twin
skinned beast. We seem to have fitted and sealed it together really well so very
little air escapes and successfully mounted and plumbed in the new little
inflation fan that holds the skins apart. We also added a little extra feature
of a non-return flap into the system which means that we can turn the fan off
for short periods and it doesn’t deflate back through the fan mechanism. In
fact this morning I’ve re-set it to only come on 20 mins in each hour rather
than the situation with the old fan which ran continuously. Should do the job
and reduce power use a bit.

January
so far looks ok on the turbine front, a nice steady breeze most of the week
kept that meter ticking over.

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 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 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!

Cheers.

Have a good one, from all
at Kirton Farm Nurseries