Morning all,
Unfortunately last weekend was a bit of a washout and today doesn’t look too much better down here. Still the rain will help top up the water table which was still a bit low and get some of those reservoirs topped up before the glorious spring and summer to come. I’m certainly glad we got a few more drains laid between some of the tunnels earlier this winter, it has definitely reduced the flooding we used to get in some of the tunnels after heavy rain fall and given us a chance of harvesting some of it for irrigation use. We just need to find the cash for a big hole to put it in. One day.
For some reason I’m feeling a touch overexcited, not something that happens as often as it used to in my younger days. I think it’s a combination of multiple positive nudges and the PST (pre-season tension) beginning to mount. Caroline is already hugely busy in the lab with demand and production levels reaching all time highs, so there is a bit of hysteria slipping in from that direction and on the nursery there is the feeling that the spring madness is about to unleash itself with a peak in demand for the hairy pots too. The anti-plastic pollution vibe of the moment still seems to be gathering pace which is definitely having an effect on interest in our hairy pot output. We have had several requests for information from the consumer gardening press as well as an increase in interest from retailers looking for alternatives to the plastic pot. There is a distinct possibility that I might have done something right at last.
At the same time as those extra potential sales, we are still looking how to make it all even better, investigating new and different options for pot labelling, producing new POS boards, developing the plant range offered and checking some other secret options that I can’t talk about yet. Trials and testing are going on all over the place so watch this space.
Discovered a new/old band last week. Not sure how they passed me by but I got hold of the Pure Cult cd and have been playing it all week. The cue was the ‘Lil’ Devil’ backing track on the Easy Jet ad https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrVjhl1Gv1A which is showing again. But the scary bit to it all was the maths involved. Their ‘recent’ big hit (She’s Sells Sanctuary) was in 1985, that’s 33 years ago. When I was 18 and getting into music listening, that would be the equivalent of listening to the songs of 1944 while the Pistols were celebrating the Jubilee. Might we deduce I’ve passed my sell by date?
Just to add to the excitement levels I’ve got to say a few words at the launch of this year’s local Green Impact scheme later this week. Luckily I only have to say a few positive words on how we got on last year, which is just as well as public speaking it is not something I relish. The important thing is to be prepared. I’ll wing it as usual, I’m sure it will be fine. There seems to be increased local interest this year as they have moved the meeting to a larger venue, which sounds like good news. Maybe more people are recognising the importance and possibilities of making a positive change.
Winter delivery minimum orders
Until mid February we are able to drop the minimum order quantity generally to 15 trays and possibly, at a push, to 12 trays if you are very local to Winchester. It is still pretty early in the season but the range is picking up a bit now and we do have a few lines to provide a bit of winter interest and colour should you be looking for some hairy input.
Availability highlights
Despite the winter weather the Erysimum are looking good, Bowles Mauve, Red Jep, Super Bowl Mauve and Sunset are in tight bud already and the others are looking pretty chunky and not far behind on the budding front. The first Pulmonaria showing bud and a little splash of colour is Blue Ensign, a stunning dark blue, the others aren’t far behind with their nice tight variegated/silvered foliage already showing nicely.
The autumn, winter and spring flowering Cyclamen coum Cyberia are looking great, flowering from the October until April. A steady procession of colour that delights rather than blowing your head off. There is still attractive foliage on the silver leaved autumn flowering hederifolium types too but the flower display for this year is over. The Euphorbias are looking good as well, they will retain a good show of foliage through the winter months before bursting into flower in early spring.
Another evergreen early spring flowerer currently looking smart are the Bergenias in three varieties. Bright variegated leaves of the short tufted grass Carex Evergold are looking very neat and smart.
Some of our spring bulbs are making a break for it, the Alliums are well up (3/pot) and the Scilla too. There are signs of movement from many more and if we can keep the mice and voles at bay we will add them to the list as soon as we can.
Wooden box returns
We have collected the majority of our wooden boxes up now from last season, but please do drop us a line if you would like us to pop in and collect any more up. We aren’t up and about too much at the moment, but you will be in our thoughts and on the list.
Thanks.
Have a good week from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.
Monday, 29 January 2018
Tuesday, 23 January 2018
Hairy Preparations
Morning all,
I know I’m a bit late but Happy New Year to everyone. I hope you all had a great festive break, although it already seems a long time ago. We are all trying to get back into the swing of things after so many days keeping the soda warm and fridge occupied. Apologies for the lack of communication over the last few weeks, a long bout of man flu struck me down over the last few weeks resulted in a lack of appetite for anything at all, rather dented my productivity! Luckily our festive break was nice and quiet with several visitors cancelling due to illness and the rest disappearing off to foreign parts.
We have had a tough time trying to rebalance the carbon output of the rest of the family but gave it a good go. A modest show on the present front must have helped and a revamp of the house lighting in the New Year to expand LED usage has re- illuminated several rather dingy rooms with lights that actually come on when you throw the switch. One tricky bit was gauging the strength of bulb to install, the lumen count is now the thing to use rather than the old days of wattage. We put a ‘100w equivalent’ (12w) LED bulb (1600 lumen) in the sitting room and I reckon we could have lit a football stadium with it. Moved it to the kitchen instead and it is bright but fine, ‘we’ can see what we are doing in there now with just the one light rather than turning on several. Most of the other lights are just 4-6W, perform beautifully and are super efficient to run. There are some lovely vintage look led bulbs out there but watch out, some are not very efficient, always check the energy rating they should be in the A’s, we nearly got caught out by some cheaper D rated offers..
Nice to see the days drawing out a bit again, an indication that spring is just around the corner. Pre-season preparations are bowling along here, lots of cutting back and tidying in ‘fairly cool’ tunnels by some pretty hardy souls, at least we didn’t have to contend with any of the white stuff that some have had. The winter tidying included the removal from site of our ‘comedy’ van (the little Postman Pat one). It wasn’t hugely old but had done 276,000 miles and was costing way too much to keep in running order. It went off for ‘salvage’ rather than scrap so not a complete right off, but sad to see such a good workhorse disappear. We recently started putting together an updated website which is partly open (usual addresses work). It replaces both our old wholesale and retail sites, one of which was pretty ancient and old fashioned and the other flashier one no longer needed sincewe stopped our online retail sales last autumn. The new site already carries our current 2018 flipbook wholesale catalogue, a copy of our wholesale availability list, a newsletter/blog and other background info. We will be adding more depth over the coming weeks.
The plastic pollution debate seems to be gathering pace, I’m sure there will be plenty of surprise contaminants to appear yet (tea bags, fleece fibres etc), but at least the conversations have started.
Winter delivery minimum orders
Until mid February we are able to drop the minimum order quantity generally to 15 trays and possibly, at a push, to 12 trays if you are very local to Winchester. It is still pretty early in the season but the range is picking up a bit now and we do have a few lines to provide a bit of winter interest and colour should you be looking for some hairy input.
Availability highlights
Despite the winter weather the Erysimum are looking good. Bowles Mauve, Red Jep, Super Bowl Mauve and Sunset are in tight bud already and the others are looking chunky and not far behind on the budding front. The first Pulmonaria showing bud and a little splash of colour is Blue Ensign, a stunning dark blue, the other aren’t far behind with nice tight variegated/silvered foliage already showing nicely.
Autumn and winter flowering Cyclamen are looking great. The Cyclamen coum Cyberia series flower from now until April, showing short and dainty flowers and bud. There are still some attractive foliage on the silver leaved autumn flowering hederifolium types too. The Helleborus range is ready to roll as winter rolls on, not much bud yet but nice plants. The Euphorbias are looking good as well, they will retain a good show of foliage through the winter months before bursting into flower in early spring. Another evergreen early spring flowerer currently looking smart are the Bergenias in three varieties. Bright variegated leaves of the short tufted grass Carex Evergold are looking very neat and smart. Some of our spring bulbs are making a break for it, the Alliums are well up (3/pot) and the Scilla too. There are signs of movement from many more and if we can keep the mice and voles at bay we will add them to the list as soon as we can.
Wooden box returns
We have collected the majority of our wooden boxes up now but please do drop us a line if you would like us to pop in and collect any more up. We aren’t about quite as much now but you will be in our thoughts and on the list. Thanks.
Have a good week from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.
I know I’m a bit late but Happy New Year to everyone. I hope you all had a great festive break, although it already seems a long time ago. We are all trying to get back into the swing of things after so many days keeping the soda warm and fridge occupied. Apologies for the lack of communication over the last few weeks, a long bout of man flu struck me down over the last few weeks resulted in a lack of appetite for anything at all, rather dented my productivity! Luckily our festive break was nice and quiet with several visitors cancelling due to illness and the rest disappearing off to foreign parts.
We have had a tough time trying to rebalance the carbon output of the rest of the family but gave it a good go. A modest show on the present front must have helped and a revamp of the house lighting in the New Year to expand LED usage has re- illuminated several rather dingy rooms with lights that actually come on when you throw the switch. One tricky bit was gauging the strength of bulb to install, the lumen count is now the thing to use rather than the old days of wattage. We put a ‘100w equivalent’ (12w) LED bulb (1600 lumen) in the sitting room and I reckon we could have lit a football stadium with it. Moved it to the kitchen instead and it is bright but fine, ‘we’ can see what we are doing in there now with just the one light rather than turning on several. Most of the other lights are just 4-6W, perform beautifully and are super efficient to run. There are some lovely vintage look led bulbs out there but watch out, some are not very efficient, always check the energy rating they should be in the A’s, we nearly got caught out by some cheaper D rated offers..
Nice to see the days drawing out a bit again, an indication that spring is just around the corner. Pre-season preparations are bowling along here, lots of cutting back and tidying in ‘fairly cool’ tunnels by some pretty hardy souls, at least we didn’t have to contend with any of the white stuff that some have had. The winter tidying included the removal from site of our ‘comedy’ van (the little Postman Pat one). It wasn’t hugely old but had done 276,000 miles and was costing way too much to keep in running order. It went off for ‘salvage’ rather than scrap so not a complete right off, but sad to see such a good workhorse disappear. We recently started putting together an updated website which is partly open (usual addresses work). It replaces both our old wholesale and retail sites, one of which was pretty ancient and old fashioned and the other flashier one no longer needed sincewe stopped our online retail sales last autumn. The new site already carries our current 2018 flipbook wholesale catalogue, a copy of our wholesale availability list, a newsletter/blog and other background info. We will be adding more depth over the coming weeks.
The plastic pollution debate seems to be gathering pace, I’m sure there will be plenty of surprise contaminants to appear yet (tea bags, fleece fibres etc), but at least the conversations have started.
Winter delivery minimum orders
Until mid February we are able to drop the minimum order quantity generally to 15 trays and possibly, at a push, to 12 trays if you are very local to Winchester. It is still pretty early in the season but the range is picking up a bit now and we do have a few lines to provide a bit of winter interest and colour should you be looking for some hairy input.
Availability highlights
Despite the winter weather the Erysimum are looking good. Bowles Mauve, Red Jep, Super Bowl Mauve and Sunset are in tight bud already and the others are looking chunky and not far behind on the budding front. The first Pulmonaria showing bud and a little splash of colour is Blue Ensign, a stunning dark blue, the other aren’t far behind with nice tight variegated/silvered foliage already showing nicely.
Autumn and winter flowering Cyclamen are looking great. The Cyclamen coum Cyberia series flower from now until April, showing short and dainty flowers and bud. There are still some attractive foliage on the silver leaved autumn flowering hederifolium types too. The Helleborus range is ready to roll as winter rolls on, not much bud yet but nice plants. The Euphorbias are looking good as well, they will retain a good show of foliage through the winter months before bursting into flower in early spring. Another evergreen early spring flowerer currently looking smart are the Bergenias in three varieties. Bright variegated leaves of the short tufted grass Carex Evergold are looking very neat and smart. Some of our spring bulbs are making a break for it, the Alliums are well up (3/pot) and the Scilla too. There are signs of movement from many more and if we can keep the mice and voles at bay we will add them to the list as soon as we can.
Wooden box returns
We have collected the majority of our wooden boxes up now but please do drop us a line if you would like us to pop in and collect any more up. We aren’t about quite as much now but you will be in our thoughts and on the list. Thanks.
Have a good week from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.
Monday, 11 December 2017
Hairy Wafting
Morning all,
Time is flying by and all those winter office jobs I’m sure I’ll get through are piling up. I will have to make some more lists so I can tick some off, that’s yet another job created. Distractions from risk assessment reviews and written bio-security summaries this week included fixing a replacement cover over the heated microprop weaning tunnel, replacing a rotten tunnel side rail, digging more drainage channels, attending an update session on vine weevil control methods and recent peat-free compost developments and repairing a faulty grow light to get the whole prop tunnel fully illuminated (it’s like Christmas in there). Monday was mild and still so we grabbed our window of opportunity by whipping off the damaged old tunnel cover from the heated prop tunnel. It’s a heat saving twin-skinned design with both skins attached to the structure together, but loosely, so that they can be held blown apart by a little fan pushing air between them. That sounds simple enough but you try pulling a new sheet over a slightly damp existing one on a 45m x 8m tunnel. Having released both sheets to get the old one off we sensibly tacked the inner sheet in position so it wouldn’t move while we pulled over the new one. Then we spent a very frustrating and exhausting couple of hours wafting and pulling to get the top sheet in dragged over and into position as they constantly stuck together with slight dampness between the sheets. It was one of those occasions when once you started you had to finish no matter how much you wanted to give up, the very valuable crop underneath would suffer badly if not successfully recovered. We got there in the end only to realise that a couple of the tacks that held the underneath sheet had come out and that had shifted over about 6 inches. Not a lot but that sheet was already cut to the perfect size so needed to go back in exactly the same position as it was before. Back to mega wafting and a lot of huffing and puffing (we’ll forget the effing and blinding) and despite my worst fears of not getting it fixed before dark it all suddenly came together and all was well. Looking back it was really good exercise, I ached for days after, I obviously haven’t done much wafting recently.
Postman has just been and delivered some exciting new label samples. We are still on the lookout for even more sustainable bits and bobs for the nursery and the colour labels are still an area we would love to improve on. At the moment they are made of 100% recycled plastic and recyclable themselves but now we have a couple of new materials to test out, one is a plastic made from plant ethanol which unfortunately isn’t very biodegradable but is still recyclable and the other is card based with a bio-coating which is all completely biodegradable. The trouble with the biodegradable one could be that it disappears too fast, although the fact that ours are threaded onto a skewer and so not in full contact with the compost might make them work. I’ve cut them up to fit the skewers and they are now outside stuck in some plants starting their initial practical testing. I’ve tried a sheet running through our label printer and that went perfectly so we could also print our own labels for the short production runs we sometimes produce. Now we just have to wait and see.
Winter delivery minimum orders
For the rest of the year and until sometime in February we are able to drop the minimum order quantity generally to 15 trays and possibly, at a push, to 12 trays if you are very local to Winchester. The range available will obviously slip away as most lines go into dormancy but we have a few lines to provide a bit of winter interest and colour, should you be looking for some hairy input.
Availability highlights
Autumn and winter flowering Cyclamen are looking great. The Cyclamen coum Cyberia series flower from now until April, showing short and dainty flowers and bud. There are still plenty of flowers on the remaining silver leaved autumn/winter flowering hederifolium types too. The Helleborus range is ready to roll as winter approaches, no bud yet but nice plants. We have a few of the old fashioned hardy Primula Wanda in bud and flower. We haven’t grow this one for donkeys years but thought we’d give it a run out as our winter sales are steadily building and it’s nice to add another bit of colour. The Euphorbias are looking good as well, they will retain a good show of foliage through the winter months before bursting into flower in early spring. Despite the bitter temperatures of last week the Erysimum Bowles Mauve is still in bud and showing splashed of colour. Another evergreen spring flowerer currently looking smart are the Bergenias in three varieties. Bright variegated leaves of the short tufted grass Carex Evergold are looking very neat and smart.
Wooden box returns
We have collected the majority of our wooden boxes up now but please do drop us a line if you would like us to pop in and collect any more up. We aren’t about quite as much now but you will be in our thoughts and on the list. Thanks.
Have a good week from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.
Time is flying by and all those winter office jobs I’m sure I’ll get through are piling up. I will have to make some more lists so I can tick some off, that’s yet another job created. Distractions from risk assessment reviews and written bio-security summaries this week included fixing a replacement cover over the heated microprop weaning tunnel, replacing a rotten tunnel side rail, digging more drainage channels, attending an update session on vine weevil control methods and recent peat-free compost developments and repairing a faulty grow light to get the whole prop tunnel fully illuminated (it’s like Christmas in there). Monday was mild and still so we grabbed our window of opportunity by whipping off the damaged old tunnel cover from the heated prop tunnel. It’s a heat saving twin-skinned design with both skins attached to the structure together, but loosely, so that they can be held blown apart by a little fan pushing air between them. That sounds simple enough but you try pulling a new sheet over a slightly damp existing one on a 45m x 8m tunnel. Having released both sheets to get the old one off we sensibly tacked the inner sheet in position so it wouldn’t move while we pulled over the new one. Then we spent a very frustrating and exhausting couple of hours wafting and pulling to get the top sheet in dragged over and into position as they constantly stuck together with slight dampness between the sheets. It was one of those occasions when once you started you had to finish no matter how much you wanted to give up, the very valuable crop underneath would suffer badly if not successfully recovered. We got there in the end only to realise that a couple of the tacks that held the underneath sheet had come out and that had shifted over about 6 inches. Not a lot but that sheet was already cut to the perfect size so needed to go back in exactly the same position as it was before. Back to mega wafting and a lot of huffing and puffing (we’ll forget the effing and blinding) and despite my worst fears of not getting it fixed before dark it all suddenly came together and all was well. Looking back it was really good exercise, I ached for days after, I obviously haven’t done much wafting recently.
Postman has just been and delivered some exciting new label samples. We are still on the lookout for even more sustainable bits and bobs for the nursery and the colour labels are still an area we would love to improve on. At the moment they are made of 100% recycled plastic and recyclable themselves but now we have a couple of new materials to test out, one is a plastic made from plant ethanol which unfortunately isn’t very biodegradable but is still recyclable and the other is card based with a bio-coating which is all completely biodegradable. The trouble with the biodegradable one could be that it disappears too fast, although the fact that ours are threaded onto a skewer and so not in full contact with the compost might make them work. I’ve cut them up to fit the skewers and they are now outside stuck in some plants starting their initial practical testing. I’ve tried a sheet running through our label printer and that went perfectly so we could also print our own labels for the short production runs we sometimes produce. Now we just have to wait and see.
Winter delivery minimum orders
For the rest of the year and until sometime in February we are able to drop the minimum order quantity generally to 15 trays and possibly, at a push, to 12 trays if you are very local to Winchester. The range available will obviously slip away as most lines go into dormancy but we have a few lines to provide a bit of winter interest and colour, should you be looking for some hairy input.
Availability highlights
Autumn and winter flowering Cyclamen are looking great. The Cyclamen coum Cyberia series flower from now until April, showing short and dainty flowers and bud. There are still plenty of flowers on the remaining silver leaved autumn/winter flowering hederifolium types too. The Helleborus range is ready to roll as winter approaches, no bud yet but nice plants. We have a few of the old fashioned hardy Primula Wanda in bud and flower. We haven’t grow this one for donkeys years but thought we’d give it a run out as our winter sales are steadily building and it’s nice to add another bit of colour. The Euphorbias are looking good as well, they will retain a good show of foliage through the winter months before bursting into flower in early spring. Despite the bitter temperatures of last week the Erysimum Bowles Mauve is still in bud and showing splashed of colour. Another evergreen spring flowerer currently looking smart are the Bergenias in three varieties. Bright variegated leaves of the short tufted grass Carex Evergold are looking very neat and smart.
Wooden box returns
We have collected the majority of our wooden boxes up now but please do drop us a line if you would like us to pop in and collect any more up. We aren’t about quite as much now but you will be in our thoughts and on the list. Thanks.
Have a good week from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.
Monday, 4 December 2017
More Hairy Light
Morning all,
Just a quick one this morning as it’s a hectic weekend and I’m due out in an hour for a big family ‘Christmas’ lunch. I know it’s a bit early but a few of them are off on their travels (further than Cornwall) for the festive period and it’s our last chance. Not sure what’s on the menu yet but it’ll be a feast and I will have to rest hard after to recover for Monday.
This is supposed to be our quiet period on the nursery but it still seems like the work is piling up. I had a small batch of new LED grow lights come this week to extend the propagation area so we can cope better with the early season demand for the micropropagation stock. Earlier I spread out our existing lights to double the area covered making better use of our self generated electricity by running them for more hours each day and the six LEDs fill the last bit of the twin skinned prop tunnel. At over £300 each, plus fitting, they are quite an investment for us but the combination of low energy consumption and using our own wind turbine energy means that running them costs very little. The quality of the output is fantastic in comparison with using no lights and just heat to promote plant growth, so we will be able to produce a nice dollop of extra income early in the season of plants that are raring to go. Demand for early season young plants is strong as everyone tries to shorten production timings to reduce cost and exchange rates plus fears on bio-security are helping boost UK young plant sales, a good sign for us but it’s still a really tight sector with cheap imports still causing anxiety. Interesting times for plant producers.
I am working hard on the latest version of our flipbook catalogue, it takes time but shouldn’t be too long before you get to see the 2018 list. I’m just trying to fit it in around getting our young plant and label ordering sorted as well as organising all the winter improvements and maintenance.
This week saw the launch of the 2018 NUS Green Impact programme which we took part in last year. Several of last year’s participants took part in a workshop a while ago to 9suggest a few improvements and I am delighted that many of them have been taken up making the whole thing even more practical and rewarding. I really like the challenges they set to think about areas that perhaps we haven’t focussed on much before. We can score highly on those things we are already really good at but it sets new goals too which keeps things fresh and interesting. If you are interested in what they may be able to offer check out the Green Impact Toolkit at www.greenimpact.org.uk/wcc. You might not qualify for our area but you can only ask. There is a bit of self inflicted pressure on this for 2018 as we got to bronze last year and I managed to be crowned the Green Impact National Environmental Hero for 2017 so we have to put on a good show. No worries.
Got to go and chop up a bit of wood now and earn my lunch. No rest for the elasticated waistband yet, holiday excess still clinging on. Those mince pies are too good to refuse. Hope you all enjoy the festive build up as the madness gathers pace.
Winter delivery minimum orders
For the rest of the year and until sometime in February we are able to drop the minimum order quantity generally to 15 trays and possibly, at a push, to 12 trays if you are very local to Winchester. The range available will obviously slip away as most lines go into dormancy but we have a few lines to provide a bit of winter interest and colour, should you be looking for some hairy input.
Availability highlights
Autumn and winter flowering Cyclamen are looking great. The Cyclamen coum Cyberia series flower from now until April, showing short and dainty flowers and bud. There are still plenty of flowers on the remaining silver leaved autumn/winter flowering hederifolium types too. The Helleborus range is ready to roll as winter approaches, no bud yet but nice plants. The Euphorbias are looking good as well, they will retain a good show of foliage through the winter months before bursting into flower in early spring. Despite the bitter temperatures of last week the Erysimum Bowles Mauve is still in bud and showing splashed of colour. Another evergreen spring flowerer currently looking smart are the Bergenias in three varieties.Bright variegated leaves of the short tufted grass Carex Evergold are looking very neat and smart.
Wooden box returns
We have collected the majority of our wooden boxes up now but please do drop us a line if you would like us to pop in and collect any more up. We aren’t about quite as much now but you will be in our thoughts and on the list. Thanks.
Have a good week from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.
Just a quick one this morning as it’s a hectic weekend and I’m due out in an hour for a big family ‘Christmas’ lunch. I know it’s a bit early but a few of them are off on their travels (further than Cornwall) for the festive period and it’s our last chance. Not sure what’s on the menu yet but it’ll be a feast and I will have to rest hard after to recover for Monday.
This is supposed to be our quiet period on the nursery but it still seems like the work is piling up. I had a small batch of new LED grow lights come this week to extend the propagation area so we can cope better with the early season demand for the micropropagation stock. Earlier I spread out our existing lights to double the area covered making better use of our self generated electricity by running them for more hours each day and the six LEDs fill the last bit of the twin skinned prop tunnel. At over £300 each, plus fitting, they are quite an investment for us but the combination of low energy consumption and using our own wind turbine energy means that running them costs very little. The quality of the output is fantastic in comparison with using no lights and just heat to promote plant growth, so we will be able to produce a nice dollop of extra income early in the season of plants that are raring to go. Demand for early season young plants is strong as everyone tries to shorten production timings to reduce cost and exchange rates plus fears on bio-security are helping boost UK young plant sales, a good sign for us but it’s still a really tight sector with cheap imports still causing anxiety. Interesting times for plant producers.
I am working hard on the latest version of our flipbook catalogue, it takes time but shouldn’t be too long before you get to see the 2018 list. I’m just trying to fit it in around getting our young plant and label ordering sorted as well as organising all the winter improvements and maintenance.
This week saw the launch of the 2018 NUS Green Impact programme which we took part in last year. Several of last year’s participants took part in a workshop a while ago to 9suggest a few improvements and I am delighted that many of them have been taken up making the whole thing even more practical and rewarding. I really like the challenges they set to think about areas that perhaps we haven’t focussed on much before. We can score highly on those things we are already really good at but it sets new goals too which keeps things fresh and interesting. If you are interested in what they may be able to offer check out the Green Impact Toolkit at www.greenimpact.org.uk/wcc. You might not qualify for our area but you can only ask. There is a bit of self inflicted pressure on this for 2018 as we got to bronze last year and I managed to be crowned the Green Impact National Environmental Hero for 2017 so we have to put on a good show. No worries.
Got to go and chop up a bit of wood now and earn my lunch. No rest for the elasticated waistband yet, holiday excess still clinging on. Those mince pies are too good to refuse. Hope you all enjoy the festive build up as the madness gathers pace.
Winter delivery minimum orders
For the rest of the year and until sometime in February we are able to drop the minimum order quantity generally to 15 trays and possibly, at a push, to 12 trays if you are very local to Winchester. The range available will obviously slip away as most lines go into dormancy but we have a few lines to provide a bit of winter interest and colour, should you be looking for some hairy input.
Availability highlights
Autumn and winter flowering Cyclamen are looking great. The Cyclamen coum Cyberia series flower from now until April, showing short and dainty flowers and bud. There are still plenty of flowers on the remaining silver leaved autumn/winter flowering hederifolium types too. The Helleborus range is ready to roll as winter approaches, no bud yet but nice plants. The Euphorbias are looking good as well, they will retain a good show of foliage through the winter months before bursting into flower in early spring. Despite the bitter temperatures of last week the Erysimum Bowles Mauve is still in bud and showing splashed of colour. Another evergreen spring flowerer currently looking smart are the Bergenias in three varieties.Bright variegated leaves of the short tufted grass Carex Evergold are looking very neat and smart.
Wooden box returns
We have collected the majority of our wooden boxes up now but please do drop us a line if you would like us to pop in and collect any more up. We aren’t about quite as much now but you will be in our thoughts and on the list. Thanks.
Have a good week from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.
Sunday, 26 November 2017
Seeing the hairy light
Morning all,
After a mild week it has turned a bit wintery with a bitter northerly wind today. Luckily for us it shouldn’t dent sales too much as we tend to go very quiet over these late weeks. We often earn more from the turbines at this time than from plant sales. The winter months are the peak wind speed times, on average, although this month will be quite a bit less than normal October was good so I am not complaining.
We are getting well stuck into the winter jobs list with pot mulching nearly complete and several new drains dug, laid and dressed. Unfortunately we can’t get a digger in the gaps so there is a lot of physical effort in the hand digging of the drains between the tunnels and I reckon it will take a few winters to finish but all the benefits will be there eventually. We are concentrating first on those sites that flood worst during the heavier rain storms, as the water sheds from the upper tunnels into the lower ones. They will keep the tunnels drier and cleaner, reducing potential winter losses and bed cleaning between crops and give us an opportunity to collect some more water. The ground cover materials used to line and hold down the drainage pipe should also eliminate weed growth between the tunnels and reduce the herbicide used and weed spread onto the crops. Having completed a couple of the worst offenders we are almost looking forward to the next downpour just to see them work, there is just a smidgen of apprehension that all our levels are right and that it all runs away. We’ll see.
Last week I promised to reveal some exciting geological/archaeological revelations as discovered on our Cornish holiday. This was something that brewed over a couple of days after walks that included investigation and discussion on the significance of the amount of quartz found on many sites from prehistory onwards. Having seen a quartz rock placed under a very large propped boulder (believed to be Neolithic) it was mooted that perhaps there was something we were missing in the significance of quartz, does it has some special properties? We knew vaguely about the use of quartz in electrical items (watches etc) and there was some speculation from our very clever tame archaeologist that it may produce light when put under pressure. We collected a few lumps of quartz pebble from the beach and returned to base to await darkness to try out a few tests. After we returned from a very jolly evening out we despatched Brian into the garden with two big lumps of quartz and turned off all the lights. After waiting a while, until our eyes became adjusted to the dark, he started bashing one against the other and sure enough we saw flashes of light, not sparks really, more of a brief glow. Unfortunately it was not the greatest of shows as the main effect of impact was a shattering of the rocks with bits flying off all over the place. We recalled our demonstrator into the house for further investigation. By now Wikipedia was in full use and we discovered the ‘little known property’ of triboluminescence which is a property that quartz has (as well as some other crystals like sugar and diamonds). Luminescence obviously meaning light but the tribo means rubbing. So we tried that next and sure enough a vigorous rub produced a lovely warm glow in the surface of the quartz stone. The more translucent the stone the better the effect. It is quite different from flint sparking and doesn’t seem to be a particularly hot light, just very pleasing. In a time when light in the dark would have been quiet special this must have been pretty impressive. It certainly got us excited even in these days of mega entertainment on tap. Try it if you can there is something slightly wonderful about it and it kept a gaggle of old farts in Cornwall happy for hours!
Winter delivery minimum orders
For the rest of the year and until sometime in February we are able to drop the minimum order quantity generally to 15 trays and possibly, at a push, to 12 trays if you are very local to Winchester. The range available will obviously slip away as most lines go into dormancy but we have a few lines to provide a bit of winter interest and colour, should you be looking for some hairy input.
Availability highlights
Autumn and winter flowering Cyclamen are looking great. The Cyclamen coum Cyberia series flower from now until April, showing short and dainty flowers and bud. There are still plenty of flowers on the remaining autumn/winter flowering hederifolium types. The Helleborus range is ready to roll as winter approaches, no bud yet but nice plants. The Euphorbias are looking good as well, they will retain a good show of foliage through the winter months before bursting into flower in early spring. Another evergreen spring flowerer currently looking smart are the Bergenias in three varieties. Bright variegated leaves of the short tufted grass Carex Evergold are looking very neat and smart.
Wooden box returns
We have collected the majority of our wooden boxes up now but please do drop us a line if you would like us to pop in and collect any more up. We aren’t about quite as much now but you will be in our thoughts and on the list. Thanks.
Have a good week from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.
After a mild week it has turned a bit wintery with a bitter northerly wind today. Luckily for us it shouldn’t dent sales too much as we tend to go very quiet over these late weeks. We often earn more from the turbines at this time than from plant sales. The winter months are the peak wind speed times, on average, although this month will be quite a bit less than normal October was good so I am not complaining.
We are getting well stuck into the winter jobs list with pot mulching nearly complete and several new drains dug, laid and dressed. Unfortunately we can’t get a digger in the gaps so there is a lot of physical effort in the hand digging of the drains between the tunnels and I reckon it will take a few winters to finish but all the benefits will be there eventually. We are concentrating first on those sites that flood worst during the heavier rain storms, as the water sheds from the upper tunnels into the lower ones. They will keep the tunnels drier and cleaner, reducing potential winter losses and bed cleaning between crops and give us an opportunity to collect some more water. The ground cover materials used to line and hold down the drainage pipe should also eliminate weed growth between the tunnels and reduce the herbicide used and weed spread onto the crops. Having completed a couple of the worst offenders we are almost looking forward to the next downpour just to see them work, there is just a smidgen of apprehension that all our levels are right and that it all runs away. We’ll see.
Last week I promised to reveal some exciting geological/archaeological revelations as discovered on our Cornish holiday. This was something that brewed over a couple of days after walks that included investigation and discussion on the significance of the amount of quartz found on many sites from prehistory onwards. Having seen a quartz rock placed under a very large propped boulder (believed to be Neolithic) it was mooted that perhaps there was something we were missing in the significance of quartz, does it has some special properties? We knew vaguely about the use of quartz in electrical items (watches etc) and there was some speculation from our very clever tame archaeologist that it may produce light when put under pressure. We collected a few lumps of quartz pebble from the beach and returned to base to await darkness to try out a few tests. After we returned from a very jolly evening out we despatched Brian into the garden with two big lumps of quartz and turned off all the lights. After waiting a while, until our eyes became adjusted to the dark, he started bashing one against the other and sure enough we saw flashes of light, not sparks really, more of a brief glow. Unfortunately it was not the greatest of shows as the main effect of impact was a shattering of the rocks with bits flying off all over the place. We recalled our demonstrator into the house for further investigation. By now Wikipedia was in full use and we discovered the ‘little known property’ of triboluminescence which is a property that quartz has (as well as some other crystals like sugar and diamonds). Luminescence obviously meaning light but the tribo means rubbing. So we tried that next and sure enough a vigorous rub produced a lovely warm glow in the surface of the quartz stone. The more translucent the stone the better the effect. It is quite different from flint sparking and doesn’t seem to be a particularly hot light, just very pleasing. In a time when light in the dark would have been quiet special this must have been pretty impressive. It certainly got us excited even in these days of mega entertainment on tap. Try it if you can there is something slightly wonderful about it and it kept a gaggle of old farts in Cornwall happy for hours!
Winter delivery minimum orders
For the rest of the year and until sometime in February we are able to drop the minimum order quantity generally to 15 trays and possibly, at a push, to 12 trays if you are very local to Winchester. The range available will obviously slip away as most lines go into dormancy but we have a few lines to provide a bit of winter interest and colour, should you be looking for some hairy input.
Availability highlights
Autumn and winter flowering Cyclamen are looking great. The Cyclamen coum Cyberia series flower from now until April, showing short and dainty flowers and bud. There are still plenty of flowers on the remaining autumn/winter flowering hederifolium types. The Helleborus range is ready to roll as winter approaches, no bud yet but nice plants. The Euphorbias are looking good as well, they will retain a good show of foliage through the winter months before bursting into flower in early spring. Another evergreen spring flowerer currently looking smart are the Bergenias in three varieties. Bright variegated leaves of the short tufted grass Carex Evergold are looking very neat and smart.
Wooden box returns
We have collected the majority of our wooden boxes up now but please do drop us a line if you would like us to pop in and collect any more up. We aren’t about quite as much now but you will be in our thoughts and on the list. Thanks.
Have a good week from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.
Monday, 20 November 2017
Happy Hairy Days
Morning all,
Right that’s got the annual break out of the way and its back down to all the exciting winter nursery jobs. I can’t quite get my head around all the things to do just yet, still trying to recover from the jet lag effect of two weeks in sunny St Ives. I know I’ve got to finalise the production plans for the coming spring and adjust the catalogue and plant lists accordingly so you should all be receiving updates on those in two or three weeks. Then there are all the site maintenance and improvements to get stuck into, mostly to do with digging and installing drains for more water movement and collection which is lots of work but luckily not too much expense on materials. Just one little LED lighting project for this year, the micro-propagation weaning tunnel has had to expand to cope with demand so new lights are being installed to extend the season more into the winter period. Unfortunately they are so expensive that we can only afford to put them in the new extended area at the moment rather than replace the older HP sodium lights in the rest of the tunnel. We have slightly shot ourselves in the foot on lighting energy saving, which in many situations can have an extremely quick payback time if you have expensive electricity and use the lights a lot. We are using mostly cheap night time energy or generating our own cheap wind turbine energy and the lights aren’t use for very long during the year. This all culminates in a rather long payback period when a single 120cm long specialist LED grow-light costs £300 plus fitting.
We had a fantastic break, lots of friends came down to stay and a good time was had by all, We never tire of the view over Porthmeor beach out of the window, it endlessly changes and there is always something going on. By the end of two weeks the elasticated waistband was fully deployed after some fantastic feeding stops. I can particularly recommend Porthmeor Beach Cafe, Porthminster Cafe (take out a new mortgage), Porthgwidden Beach Cafe and two spectacular Sunday lunchtime visits to The Victoria Inn at Perranuthnoe (near Marazion). I get a bit anxious that we might start getting a bit bored of visiting the same place but every year it always delivers. Good spots for this year were Woodcock, Turtle Dove, Black Swan (escapee), Great Northern Diver and some spectacular wader displays on Hayle Estuary. Our tame archaeologist Brian had done loads of research and came up with a brilliant walk (among others) through the entire history of the area from the early Neolithic to the Victorians. We went up to the summit of Carn Galver to visit a Neolithic Tor enclosure with mega views and a propped stone (a very large rock manually perched on a small rock from a similar period). Then we headed back towards the coast path through 3 different sites and periods of tin mining activity and a history of farming and social development from bronze age banks, walls and roundhouses, to iron age field boundary developments and a cliff top fort. We also squeezed in a very nice Romano-British courtyard settlement along the way and some spectacular cliff top walking. Just to top it all we shoehorned a stop at the Tinners for lunch too.
We even did a bit of geological experimentation too, which kept us entertained during the dark hours between tea and dinner. It was something to do with the effect of rubbing two stones together but you will have to wait ‘till next week for that tale to unfold. Ok I know it’s not most exciting sounding break in the world but it had everything that we were after, happy days.
Winter delivery minimum orders
For the rest of the autumn and until sometime in February we are able to drop the minimum order quantity generally to 15 trays and possibly, at a push, to 12 trays if you are very local to Winchester. The range available will obviously slip away as most lines go into dormancy but we have a few lines to provide a bit of winter interest and colour, should you be looking for some hairy input.
Availability highlights
Autumn and winter flowering Cyclamen are looking good. The Cyclamen coum Cyberia series flower from now until April, showing short and dainty flowers and bud. I can see some bud still coming on the remaining autumn flowering hederifolium types but too. The Helleborus range is gradually increasing as winter approaches, no bud yet but nice plants. Another evergreen spring flowerer currently looking smart are the Bergenias. We have a few very nice bushy Erysimum Bowles Mauve budding nicely and showing a little colour. We have a lovely crop of Ajuga in a range of leaf colours just bursting to get into the garden.
Bright variegated leaves of the short tufted grass Carex Evergold are looking very neat and smart.
Wooden box returns
We have collected the majority of our wooden boxes up now but please do drop us a line if you would like us to pop in and collect any more up. We aren’t about quite as much now but you will be in our thoughts and on the list. Thanks.
Have a good week from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.
Right that’s got the annual break out of the way and its back down to all the exciting winter nursery jobs. I can’t quite get my head around all the things to do just yet, still trying to recover from the jet lag effect of two weeks in sunny St Ives. I know I’ve got to finalise the production plans for the coming spring and adjust the catalogue and plant lists accordingly so you should all be receiving updates on those in two or three weeks. Then there are all the site maintenance and improvements to get stuck into, mostly to do with digging and installing drains for more water movement and collection which is lots of work but luckily not too much expense on materials. Just one little LED lighting project for this year, the micro-propagation weaning tunnel has had to expand to cope with demand so new lights are being installed to extend the season more into the winter period. Unfortunately they are so expensive that we can only afford to put them in the new extended area at the moment rather than replace the older HP sodium lights in the rest of the tunnel. We have slightly shot ourselves in the foot on lighting energy saving, which in many situations can have an extremely quick payback time if you have expensive electricity and use the lights a lot. We are using mostly cheap night time energy or generating our own cheap wind turbine energy and the lights aren’t use for very long during the year. This all culminates in a rather long payback period when a single 120cm long specialist LED grow-light costs £300 plus fitting.
We had a fantastic break, lots of friends came down to stay and a good time was had by all, We never tire of the view over Porthmeor beach out of the window, it endlessly changes and there is always something going on. By the end of two weeks the elasticated waistband was fully deployed after some fantastic feeding stops. I can particularly recommend Porthmeor Beach Cafe, Porthminster Cafe (take out a new mortgage), Porthgwidden Beach Cafe and two spectacular Sunday lunchtime visits to The Victoria Inn at Perranuthnoe (near Marazion). I get a bit anxious that we might start getting a bit bored of visiting the same place but every year it always delivers. Good spots for this year were Woodcock, Turtle Dove, Black Swan (escapee), Great Northern Diver and some spectacular wader displays on Hayle Estuary. Our tame archaeologist Brian had done loads of research and came up with a brilliant walk (among others) through the entire history of the area from the early Neolithic to the Victorians. We went up to the summit of Carn Galver to visit a Neolithic Tor enclosure with mega views and a propped stone (a very large rock manually perched on a small rock from a similar period). Then we headed back towards the coast path through 3 different sites and periods of tin mining activity and a history of farming and social development from bronze age banks, walls and roundhouses, to iron age field boundary developments and a cliff top fort. We also squeezed in a very nice Romano-British courtyard settlement along the way and some spectacular cliff top walking. Just to top it all we shoehorned a stop at the Tinners for lunch too.
We even did a bit of geological experimentation too, which kept us entertained during the dark hours between tea and dinner. It was something to do with the effect of rubbing two stones together but you will have to wait ‘till next week for that tale to unfold. Ok I know it’s not most exciting sounding break in the world but it had everything that we were after, happy days.
Winter delivery minimum orders
For the rest of the autumn and until sometime in February we are able to drop the minimum order quantity generally to 15 trays and possibly, at a push, to 12 trays if you are very local to Winchester. The range available will obviously slip away as most lines go into dormancy but we have a few lines to provide a bit of winter interest and colour, should you be looking for some hairy input.
Availability highlights
Autumn and winter flowering Cyclamen are looking good. The Cyclamen coum Cyberia series flower from now until April, showing short and dainty flowers and bud. I can see some bud still coming on the remaining autumn flowering hederifolium types but too. The Helleborus range is gradually increasing as winter approaches, no bud yet but nice plants. Another evergreen spring flowerer currently looking smart are the Bergenias. We have a few very nice bushy Erysimum Bowles Mauve budding nicely and showing a little colour. We have a lovely crop of Ajuga in a range of leaf colours just bursting to get into the garden.
Bright variegated leaves of the short tufted grass Carex Evergold are looking very neat and smart.
Wooden box returns
We have collected the majority of our wooden boxes up now but please do drop us a line if you would like us to pop in and collect any more up. We aren’t about quite as much now but you will be in our thoughts and on the list. Thanks.
Have a good week from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.
Tuesday, 7 November 2017
Snug and Hairy
Morning all,
Damp and autumnal here, the sun is desperately trying to shift the fog and in an hour or two it might just do it. Glad to have the spaced and refitted grow-lights on in the weaning tunnel where all those baby plants from the lab have come out to try and romp away in some rather cool damp weather. That extra bit of help does seem to con them into thinking a late summer is still hanging around and growth responses are looking good. Glad we only have a small area for this type of input as it does make the meter turn! Good job the wind turbines are more active at this time of year.
The log burner is now well warmed up, chimney swept and toasty evenings dozing off in the glow are becoming the norm. A great time of year for looking for any cosying up opportunities. A lovely touch of luxury was added here a couple of weeks ago with the retirement of our ancient set of bath towels. I suspect they were a wedding present (1984, married at just 14!) they have certainly been around a while reaching that stage of life when they felt a bit like sandpaper and rub off the water rather than soaking it off. The replacements are amazingly thick, soft and absorbent, pure joy to use, I only need to walk close by and all moisture wicks away. Mind you they worked out a bit expensive as they broke the washing machine on their first visit. To be fair it had been complaining about its work-load for ages and the mending man had written it off last time saying that the time was approaching for a new one. Anyway the new one is super efficient, doing some washes with unheated water and adding its own air bubbles to help things along, the wonders of modern technology (or creative marketing).
New drainage pipe has arrived, time to get on a dig some ditches. Nice to get stuck into some winter site improvements again. Just wait ‘till next year the nursery is going to be so productive and efficient we’ll be millionaires. If only.
Winter delivery minimum orders
Ok I know it’s not quite winter yet, but for the rest of the autumn and until sometime in February we are able to drop the minimum order quantity generally to 15 trays and possibly, at a push, to 12 trays if you are very local to Winchester. The range available will obviously slip away as most lines go into dormancy but we have a few lines to provide a bit of winter interest and colour, should you be looking for some hairy input.
Availability highlights
Autumn and winter flowering Cyclamen are looking good. The Cyclamen coum Cyberia series flower from now until April, showing short and dainty flowers and bud. I can see some bud still coming on the remaining autumn flowering hederifolium types but too. The Helleborus range is gradually increasing as winter approaches, no bud yet but nice plants. Another evergreen spring flowerer currently looking smart are the Bergenias. The Erodium Bishops Form is making the most of the late warmth and flowering nicely.
We have a few very nice bushy Erysimum Bowles Mauve budding nicely and showing a little colour. We have a lovely crop of Ajuga in a range of leaf colours just bursting to get into the garden. Tiarella are having a last minute flush of foamy flowers. Bright variegated leaves of the short tufted grass Carex Evergold are looking very neat and smart.
Wooden box returns
We have collected the majority of our wooden boxes up now but please do drop us a line if you would like us to pop in and collect any more up. We aren’t about quite as much now but you will be in our thoughts and on the list. Thanks.
Have a good week from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.
Damp and autumnal here, the sun is desperately trying to shift the fog and in an hour or two it might just do it. Glad to have the spaced and refitted grow-lights on in the weaning tunnel where all those baby plants from the lab have come out to try and romp away in some rather cool damp weather. That extra bit of help does seem to con them into thinking a late summer is still hanging around and growth responses are looking good. Glad we only have a small area for this type of input as it does make the meter turn! Good job the wind turbines are more active at this time of year.
The log burner is now well warmed up, chimney swept and toasty evenings dozing off in the glow are becoming the norm. A great time of year for looking for any cosying up opportunities. A lovely touch of luxury was added here a couple of weeks ago with the retirement of our ancient set of bath towels. I suspect they were a wedding present (1984, married at just 14!) they have certainly been around a while reaching that stage of life when they felt a bit like sandpaper and rub off the water rather than soaking it off. The replacements are amazingly thick, soft and absorbent, pure joy to use, I only need to walk close by and all moisture wicks away. Mind you they worked out a bit expensive as they broke the washing machine on their first visit. To be fair it had been complaining about its work-load for ages and the mending man had written it off last time saying that the time was approaching for a new one. Anyway the new one is super efficient, doing some washes with unheated water and adding its own air bubbles to help things along, the wonders of modern technology (or creative marketing).
New drainage pipe has arrived, time to get on a dig some ditches. Nice to get stuck into some winter site improvements again. Just wait ‘till next year the nursery is going to be so productive and efficient we’ll be millionaires. If only.
Winter delivery minimum orders
Ok I know it’s not quite winter yet, but for the rest of the autumn and until sometime in February we are able to drop the minimum order quantity generally to 15 trays and possibly, at a push, to 12 trays if you are very local to Winchester. The range available will obviously slip away as most lines go into dormancy but we have a few lines to provide a bit of winter interest and colour, should you be looking for some hairy input.
Availability highlights
Autumn and winter flowering Cyclamen are looking good. The Cyclamen coum Cyberia series flower from now until April, showing short and dainty flowers and bud. I can see some bud still coming on the remaining autumn flowering hederifolium types but too. The Helleborus range is gradually increasing as winter approaches, no bud yet but nice plants. Another evergreen spring flowerer currently looking smart are the Bergenias. The Erodium Bishops Form is making the most of the late warmth and flowering nicely.
We have a few very nice bushy Erysimum Bowles Mauve budding nicely and showing a little colour. We have a lovely crop of Ajuga in a range of leaf colours just bursting to get into the garden. Tiarella are having a last minute flush of foamy flowers. Bright variegated leaves of the short tufted grass Carex Evergold are looking very neat and smart.
Wooden box returns
We have collected the majority of our wooden boxes up now but please do drop us a line if you would like us to pop in and collect any more up. We aren’t about quite as much now but you will be in our thoughts and on the list. Thanks.
Have a good week from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.
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