Another week slips by and it’s the end of July already, how did that happen? I think it’s something to do with how the weeks fill up with so much stuff. This week we had a big compost delivery, a container of hairy pots to unload and store, two work experience girls on their final week, two days of birthday cake coffee breaks, harvest starting on the farm, several orders, lots of potting, irrigation installation, setting up a hairy pot stage display at a local village flower show, a bat survey and a computer melt down.
The worst thing in a busy week is getting off to a dodgy start, it’s so difficult to catch up. I had a particularly frustrating IT problem when on Monday morning when I turned on all the computers and none of them would talk to each other. It worked fine when I turned them of late on Sunday night, but no amount of network messing about or turning it all off and on again could sort it out. After hours of messing about, showing one computer to the other so that they could see each other and maybe communicate I tried turning off the firewall software and sure enough that sorted it. McAfee had sent an virus update in the night and it completely stopped all file sharing with the main computer. So despite all my personal insecurities surfacing and blaming myself for the problems, it turned out to be someone else’s fault! Still not fixed despite McAfee’s help but at least we can make things work now if we need to. The joys of mixing high tech stuff and old people!
Eco news
At last the bat survey has been done, The combination of equipment, personnel and weather all came together on Wednesday night and an overnight survey was completed. A very well informed young chap turned up at 8.30 in the evening to set it all up and do a bit of a hand held, walk-about survey. We heard him slip away (in his top of the range Volvo 4-wheel drive) at about 11.30, so he had done a good shift. We caught up with him the next morning when he came back to collect the recorded over-night data and dismantle his two tall masts to see what he had discovered. He only detected one bat with his hand-held kit and that was down behind our house, where I said I regularly see one feeding, but had heard nothing up by the turbine sites. What the microphones will have recorded from the masts we won’t know until the man who runs the software that reads the recordings, comes back from holiday in two or three weeks. So another likely delay there. One day it will all come together!
Don't forget to do your bit. Have a good week, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries
Monday, 26 July 2010
Monday, 19 July 2010
What a lovely week of cool and damp relief. Looks like warming up again next week, in the south east anyway, so brace yourselves. Feeling slightly sorry for my brother in law and his family who always have a break in Cornwall before harvest kicks in and almost every year it is a wet week. Needless to say last week was their week! Still at least they got away and are back today, they could have been with Gold Whatsit and stuck overseas, covering hotel bills and sorting out a flight home.
We did our stint at the Woking Show on Wednesday which was a great day out. I always try to be better organised than previous years and get away from the nursery, on setting up day, in plenty of time. As usual I failed and didn’t leave the nursery this time until 3.50 (day didn’t start well with a tyre puncture on the big van which needed replacing and it was uphill from then on). We were due to be set up and off the show site by 6.00 and with the help of one of our young eager staff members we just about got it done. The stand looked fresh, colourful and hairy which is just what we were after, although I will have to come up with some new signs for next time to polish it up a bit.
It is surprising to walk round the show and see how we stand out as the only exhibitor making anything much of the sustainability issues that are set to challenge the way we live. The quality of plants and the displays were fantastic but I do get the impression that only lip service is being paid to the issues that are going to dominate our lives in years to come. I know plants themselves and gardening are pushing things in the right direction because of the benefits of ‘doing it’, but surely we can make more of this.
At the PLATO Sustain (business improvement) meetings I attend everyone thinks that it’s easy for us to ‘go green’ because of the industry we are in and it is quite hard to try and explain why the majority of the trade doesn’t seem very interested in the opportunities that might be out there.
Anyway, the actual show day went well with several new contacts made and existing ones reinforced. Visitors were a bit thin on the ground due, we suspect, to the National Plant Fair at Stoneleigh a couple of weeks ago, which was very well attended. It will be interesting to see how the show adapts and recovers over the next year or two.
Eco news
Bat survey this coming week if the weather is ok. Then it’s on with the turbine application. Each day I see our poplar windbreak rustling & bending in the breeze I can picture those blades turning.
Nature notes
Tiny frogs all over the shop.
Don't forget to do your bit. Have a good week, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries
We did our stint at the Woking Show on Wednesday which was a great day out. I always try to be better organised than previous years and get away from the nursery, on setting up day, in plenty of time. As usual I failed and didn’t leave the nursery this time until 3.50 (day didn’t start well with a tyre puncture on the big van which needed replacing and it was uphill from then on). We were due to be set up and off the show site by 6.00 and with the help of one of our young eager staff members we just about got it done. The stand looked fresh, colourful and hairy which is just what we were after, although I will have to come up with some new signs for next time to polish it up a bit.
It is surprising to walk round the show and see how we stand out as the only exhibitor making anything much of the sustainability issues that are set to challenge the way we live. The quality of plants and the displays were fantastic but I do get the impression that only lip service is being paid to the issues that are going to dominate our lives in years to come. I know plants themselves and gardening are pushing things in the right direction because of the benefits of ‘doing it’, but surely we can make more of this.
At the PLATO Sustain (business improvement) meetings I attend everyone thinks that it’s easy for us to ‘go green’ because of the industry we are in and it is quite hard to try and explain why the majority of the trade doesn’t seem very interested in the opportunities that might be out there.
Anyway, the actual show day went well with several new contacts made and existing ones reinforced. Visitors were a bit thin on the ground due, we suspect, to the National Plant Fair at Stoneleigh a couple of weeks ago, which was very well attended. It will be interesting to see how the show adapts and recovers over the next year or two.
Eco news
Bat survey this coming week if the weather is ok. Then it’s on with the turbine application. Each day I see our poplar windbreak rustling & bending in the breeze I can picture those blades turning.
Nature notes
Tiny frogs all over the shop.
Don't forget to do your bit. Have a good week, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries
Sunday, 11 July 2010
Just a quickie as we are going out for a educational (prehistoric stuff) walk and pub lunch. Need to make the most of it as this may be the summer holiday!
We are still sending out lots of lovely stock despite the hot and dry weather which does makes the garden a bit of a challenge. Hopefully we will all have a bit of rain and some cooler temperatures over the coming week to freshen everything up and pep up the enthusiasm again. There is still lots of horticultural TV coverage so there is plenty to get excited about.
Woking Show this coming Wednesday hope to see lots of you there! I must have a think about sorting out a display and printing a few catalogues. Plenty of time for that!
Eco news
Bat survey booked for week after next. Ouch, nearly £2,000.
Nature notes
Tiny frogs all over the shop.
Don't forget to do your bit. Have a good week, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries
We are still sending out lots of lovely stock despite the hot and dry weather which does makes the garden a bit of a challenge. Hopefully we will all have a bit of rain and some cooler temperatures over the coming week to freshen everything up and pep up the enthusiasm again. There is still lots of horticultural TV coverage so there is plenty to get excited about.
Woking Show this coming Wednesday hope to see lots of you there! I must have a think about sorting out a display and printing a few catalogues. Plenty of time for that!
Eco news
Bat survey booked for week after next. Ouch, nearly £2,000.
Nature notes
Tiny frogs all over the shop.
Don't forget to do your bit. Have a good week, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries
Monday, 5 July 2010
Another week whizzes by and still the relentless sun, wind and lack of precipitation continues, for us down in here anyway. The wind is blowing through the leaves of the poplar windbreak again and I mourn the waste of energy (and cost savings) that another days electric generation is lost, but things are looking up.
It already seems an age ago that we dipped out of the World Cup and the fact that the Germans, who knocked us out, go marching on, makes it easier to justify such a poor effort. We've crammed a lot in since then orders, potting, watering and tunnel clearing so it all seems like a distant memory.
I attended two PLATO Sustain meetings, one local and one regional, both on subjects that were to me a bit scary. One was on current best practice/tactics on sales rep employment and use, and the other on marketing in a recession and social media marketing. Having been a bit sceptical about what would be relevant to us, I was blown away by the how much valuable info I gathered. Although at my age I do suffer from the problem that as extra bits of info go in one ear other bits fall out of the other, so I come away thinking wow what a lot of great stuff and when Caroline asks me what it was all about I can only remember that lunch was great!
It reminds me how good it is to occasionally step away from the day to day stuff and get a fresh view of life, the universe and everything. The social media bit was daunting with so many communication channels available for everyone, especially the techno savvy young. It was generally a room full of old fogies or businessmen, of which a few had dabbled in the area but were all astonished at the scale and potential of the various medias. We had a whistle stop tour of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Linked-in, search engine stuff and a load of more that fell out of the other ear! The amount of time spent on all this by the users and the amount of available info left floating about by individuals and businesses, which we can use, is astonishing. In the very near future it could become a very efficient way for us all to keep our ‘followers’ up to date with all our news and offers if you get the approach right. Mind you it may take a while for our more mature end of the market to catch up but do bear in mind, we do have a younger customer base appearing. The days of the upfront hard sell appear to be over. Oh yes another gem I picked up was, don’t forget that the main aim of marketing should not be to sell more but to increase your product value and sell at a higher profit. Then you can invest in doing it all even better next year (it’s always jam tomorrow!)
Eco news
A very pleasant surprise this week with a letter from the chief planner who says that the turbine application will go to planning committee to discuss, as expected, but that he would be recommending approval, hoped for but not expected, subject to a bat survey being carried out along the hedge where they are to be positioned.
The survey will delay things another couple of months we think, but the recognition of the relatively small scale of the project and the need for change was very reassuring. We have heard that those in Crawley village opposed to the idea are currently trying to drum up support for a petition against it, but hopefully it won’t get too noisy. There were certainly not many who were moved enough to comment on the application in a negative way during the planning application commenting period. So well done and thanks to all those who managed a supportive comment, you did your bit and it helped.
Nature notes
House Martins have hatched in several nests, there are young finches all over the place and the Sparrowhawk looks to be busy. I know some of our ladies here don’t like the number of kills seen at this time of year, but you need to see the bigger picture and hope it is showing a healthy local environment where the food chain is complete and working. The long tailed tit population seems to have exploded after getting a bit thin on numbers after the cold winter, I can hear them tweeting (even they have mobiles now) all over the place.
Still a few tadpoles appear occasionally in the main pond but most have left home I think, we have certainly seen a few tiny frogs in the adjacent tunnels. It must be a tricky time being so small, I did hear someone say that a big one may eat the tiddlers in hard times which may or may not be true, but it does illustrate that it can be a ‘frog eat frog’ world out there. Take care!
It already seems an age ago that we dipped out of the World Cup and the fact that the Germans, who knocked us out, go marching on, makes it easier to justify such a poor effort. We've crammed a lot in since then orders, potting, watering and tunnel clearing so it all seems like a distant memory.
I attended two PLATO Sustain meetings, one local and one regional, both on subjects that were to me a bit scary. One was on current best practice/tactics on sales rep employment and use, and the other on marketing in a recession and social media marketing. Having been a bit sceptical about what would be relevant to us, I was blown away by the how much valuable info I gathered. Although at my age I do suffer from the problem that as extra bits of info go in one ear other bits fall out of the other, so I come away thinking wow what a lot of great stuff and when Caroline asks me what it was all about I can only remember that lunch was great!
It reminds me how good it is to occasionally step away from the day to day stuff and get a fresh view of life, the universe and everything. The social media bit was daunting with so many communication channels available for everyone, especially the techno savvy young. It was generally a room full of old fogies or businessmen, of which a few had dabbled in the area but were all astonished at the scale and potential of the various medias. We had a whistle stop tour of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Linked-in, search engine stuff and a load of more that fell out of the other ear! The amount of time spent on all this by the users and the amount of available info left floating about by individuals and businesses, which we can use, is astonishing. In the very near future it could become a very efficient way for us all to keep our ‘followers’ up to date with all our news and offers if you get the approach right. Mind you it may take a while for our more mature end of the market to catch up but do bear in mind, we do have a younger customer base appearing. The days of the upfront hard sell appear to be over. Oh yes another gem I picked up was, don’t forget that the main aim of marketing should not be to sell more but to increase your product value and sell at a higher profit. Then you can invest in doing it all even better next year (it’s always jam tomorrow!)
Eco news
A very pleasant surprise this week with a letter from the chief planner who says that the turbine application will go to planning committee to discuss, as expected, but that he would be recommending approval, hoped for but not expected, subject to a bat survey being carried out along the hedge where they are to be positioned.
The survey will delay things another couple of months we think, but the recognition of the relatively small scale of the project and the need for change was very reassuring. We have heard that those in Crawley village opposed to the idea are currently trying to drum up support for a petition against it, but hopefully it won’t get too noisy. There were certainly not many who were moved enough to comment on the application in a negative way during the planning application commenting period. So well done and thanks to all those who managed a supportive comment, you did your bit and it helped.
Nature notes
House Martins have hatched in several nests, there are young finches all over the place and the Sparrowhawk looks to be busy. I know some of our ladies here don’t like the number of kills seen at this time of year, but you need to see the bigger picture and hope it is showing a healthy local environment where the food chain is complete and working. The long tailed tit population seems to have exploded after getting a bit thin on numbers after the cold winter, I can hear them tweeting (even they have mobiles now) all over the place.
Still a few tadpoles appear occasionally in the main pond but most have left home I think, we have certainly seen a few tiny frogs in the adjacent tunnels. It must be a tricky time being so small, I did hear someone say that a big one may eat the tiddlers in hard times which may or may not be true, but it does illustrate that it can be a ‘frog eat frog’ world out there. Take care!
Monday, 28 June 2010
Just a quickie as it’s a big day today with a warm up Grand Prix to fall asleep in front of and the big game at 3 o’clock. I would normally be slaving away over a tray of seeds or mending something but it’s just too hot in the middle of the day. One advantage at the weekend, of living on site, is you can come in late in the evening to do any essentials when it’s easier to work. So my sympathies go out to you all if you are working all day in this. Please let’s have a bit of rain to give us a break.
Anyway, other than the increasing heat we have had another exciting week here enjoying a bit of end of spring shopping to add some new toys to our collection, with a new knapsack sprayer, hosepipes and the main bits ordered for the new irrigation tank, pumps and control equipment, It doesn’t take much to get us excited! On top of that we broke and mended the forklift (sounded very ill with lots of screeching which turned out to be the fan bearings), had a man in to check the potting machine which is old and knackered, know how it feels, and organised it to go back to the workshop at the end of the season for a complete overhaul. We finalised our holiday booking in Cornwall for November for our own end of season overhaul, sent back a load of packing crates and module trays to Holland for reuse and started collecting back lots of our wooden trays from those we are passing close to on our travels. All in all, a very satisfying week.
On top of all this I had my faith restored in the future with a visit to a local primary school on Thursday. They were having a ‘low carbon day’ which was a nationwide school thing where they focus the days work on carbon issues. A school helper had contacted us through http://www.hairypotplants.co.uk/ website asking if someone who like to go along and discuss our approach to sustainability and carbon stuff and chat about our turbine plans. I had never done anything like this before, we do the odd nursery tour for old fogies and students from the local college but not off site and not to such a young audience. Not having any kids of our own I had no idea how to pitch it, so I prepared in the usual Kirton Farm management style and decided to take along a few props and wing it! It ended up being a great morning, I did a couple of sessions covering about 90 children aged 7 to 9 and their teachers, assistants and headmistress and the level of knowledge and enthusiasm was just brilliant. I suspect it worked so well because at that age we met on an intellectually level playing field! After being mentally beaten up by the local parish council on the turbine application it was a joy to hear such enthusiastic, balanced and sensible thoughts coming from such young minds. Let’s hope it all holds together when the hormones and sulking take over (although I don’t sulk as much as I used too).
Nature notes
Lots more dragonflies and damsel flies now appearing over the ponds and laying eggs.
Don't forget to do your bit. Have a good week, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries
Anyway, other than the increasing heat we have had another exciting week here enjoying a bit of end of spring shopping to add some new toys to our collection, with a new knapsack sprayer, hosepipes and the main bits ordered for the new irrigation tank, pumps and control equipment, It doesn’t take much to get us excited! On top of that we broke and mended the forklift (sounded very ill with lots of screeching which turned out to be the fan bearings), had a man in to check the potting machine which is old and knackered, know how it feels, and organised it to go back to the workshop at the end of the season for a complete overhaul. We finalised our holiday booking in Cornwall for November for our own end of season overhaul, sent back a load of packing crates and module trays to Holland for reuse and started collecting back lots of our wooden trays from those we are passing close to on our travels. All in all, a very satisfying week.
On top of all this I had my faith restored in the future with a visit to a local primary school on Thursday. They were having a ‘low carbon day’ which was a nationwide school thing where they focus the days work on carbon issues. A school helper had contacted us through http://www.hairypotplants.co.uk/ website asking if someone who like to go along and discuss our approach to sustainability and carbon stuff and chat about our turbine plans. I had never done anything like this before, we do the odd nursery tour for old fogies and students from the local college but not off site and not to such a young audience. Not having any kids of our own I had no idea how to pitch it, so I prepared in the usual Kirton Farm management style and decided to take along a few props and wing it! It ended up being a great morning, I did a couple of sessions covering about 90 children aged 7 to 9 and their teachers, assistants and headmistress and the level of knowledge and enthusiasm was just brilliant. I suspect it worked so well because at that age we met on an intellectually level playing field! After being mentally beaten up by the local parish council on the turbine application it was a joy to hear such enthusiastic, balanced and sensible thoughts coming from such young minds. Let’s hope it all holds together when the hormones and sulking take over (although I don’t sulk as much as I used too).
Nature notes
Lots more dragonflies and damsel flies now appearing over the ponds and laying eggs.
Don't forget to do your bit. Have a good week, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries
Thursday, 24 June 2010
Sunday, 20 June 2010
Nearly the end of June already, how did that happen?
Busy as usual, but a slight lull in madness has allowed a bit of development planning to take shape as we try and think of more ways to do it all better for the coming season. The wind turbine project seems to have developed it’s own momentum and progressing along it’s slow pathway to hopefully it’s eventual erection.
We are now looking at pushing along other projects big and small. Perhaps some replacement hose to replace the old multi-repaired ones that are past their best and super frustrating when they continually catch on things as you drag them about, usually just as you have got near the far end of the tunnel and have to turn off and walk all the way back to release! A couple of new small sprayers to bring the equipment up to date and make the whole job easier. Then we have a collection of irrigation projects to start ranging from a new storage tank and pump, to installing some new application kit. We are going to try and introduce more wet/dry cycles into the plant production process in an effort to toughen the plants up, reduce the growth of liverwort and moss on the compost surface and reduce water and labour use. We are also looking at starting to experiment with the installation of some of the infrastructure to harvest the rainfall to reduce mains water use, trialling tunnel guttering and drainage channels etc. Although we can’t put in a large reservoir at the moment to store all the overwinter rains, we can put in a smaller storage tank and adopt a ‘use it up as we go’ system where we use up any rainfall we get during the 8 irrigating months of the year, to dilute mains use. In theory we could reduce mains use by at least 50% at a relatively low cost.
Unfortunately this is the usual story of jam tomorrow! Lots of spending and work to put it all in place, with the promise of an easier life in future. One day. Trouble is, it’s so easy to get carried away with all this nursery shopping ‘cos it seems such a good idea at the time.
Now my 'old gits moan off the week' goes to our nearest village parish council and their objection letter to our turbine project. Now I know it’s not everyone’s idea of good countryside development which is fair enough, but they have really gone to town, bringing to light a list of objections most of which are irrelevant on the planning issue and others I took personal offense at. They complained about a lot of stuff one of which was that their questions had not been satisfactorily answered and there was not ‘proper’ consultation. I couldn’t have made ourselves more open to queries and info, they had months to ask questions and visit the site (one visitor) or arrange to go and see a similar installation. They also suggest that the comments letters are mostly from non locals and all have a suspiciously similar content (not many objections from local individuals), they really are cheeky monkeys. If you want a look it’s on page 6 of the comments page;
http://planningapplications.winchester.gov.uk/PlanningWeb/Results.aspx?ID=10%2f00895%2fFUL&tab=0
As usual we will be donating a collection of plants to the Sparsholt fete at the weekend, only the council objected, not everyone in the village, and I’m not bitter!
Dragonflies and damsel flies now appearing over the ponds. A stunning blue Broad-bodied Chaser got trapped in one of the tunnels during the week but I managed to rescue it with a plastic shovel! I tried to ‘push’ it out and it simply landed on the orange blade and I carried it out 150ft to the open. The easiest ‘rescue’ I’ve ever done!
Don't forget to do your bit. Have a good week, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries
Busy as usual, but a slight lull in madness has allowed a bit of development planning to take shape as we try and think of more ways to do it all better for the coming season. The wind turbine project seems to have developed it’s own momentum and progressing along it’s slow pathway to hopefully it’s eventual erection.
We are now looking at pushing along other projects big and small. Perhaps some replacement hose to replace the old multi-repaired ones that are past their best and super frustrating when they continually catch on things as you drag them about, usually just as you have got near the far end of the tunnel and have to turn off and walk all the way back to release! A couple of new small sprayers to bring the equipment up to date and make the whole job easier. Then we have a collection of irrigation projects to start ranging from a new storage tank and pump, to installing some new application kit. We are going to try and introduce more wet/dry cycles into the plant production process in an effort to toughen the plants up, reduce the growth of liverwort and moss on the compost surface and reduce water and labour use. We are also looking at starting to experiment with the installation of some of the infrastructure to harvest the rainfall to reduce mains water use, trialling tunnel guttering and drainage channels etc. Although we can’t put in a large reservoir at the moment to store all the overwinter rains, we can put in a smaller storage tank and adopt a ‘use it up as we go’ system where we use up any rainfall we get during the 8 irrigating months of the year, to dilute mains use. In theory we could reduce mains use by at least 50% at a relatively low cost.
Unfortunately this is the usual story of jam tomorrow! Lots of spending and work to put it all in place, with the promise of an easier life in future. One day. Trouble is, it’s so easy to get carried away with all this nursery shopping ‘cos it seems such a good idea at the time.
Now my 'old gits moan off the week' goes to our nearest village parish council and their objection letter to our turbine project. Now I know it’s not everyone’s idea of good countryside development which is fair enough, but they have really gone to town, bringing to light a list of objections most of which are irrelevant on the planning issue and others I took personal offense at. They complained about a lot of stuff one of which was that their questions had not been satisfactorily answered and there was not ‘proper’ consultation. I couldn’t have made ourselves more open to queries and info, they had months to ask questions and visit the site (one visitor) or arrange to go and see a similar installation. They also suggest that the comments letters are mostly from non locals and all have a suspiciously similar content (not many objections from local individuals), they really are cheeky monkeys. If you want a look it’s on page 6 of the comments page;
http://planningapplications.winchester.gov.uk/PlanningWeb/Results.aspx?ID=10%2f00895%2fFUL&tab=0
As usual we will be donating a collection of plants to the Sparsholt fete at the weekend, only the council objected, not everyone in the village, and I’m not bitter!
Dragonflies and damsel flies now appearing over the ponds. A stunning blue Broad-bodied Chaser got trapped in one of the tunnels during the week but I managed to rescue it with a plastic shovel! I tried to ‘push’ it out and it simply landed on the orange blade and I carried it out 150ft to the open. The easiest ‘rescue’ I’ve ever done!
Don't forget to do your bit. Have a good week, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries
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