Hairy comfort

Hi,

House and conservatory lovely and tidy after Mums timely visit. The art to keeping young is keeping active, well that's our excuse! It turned out to be a well timed reset as Caroline had a couple of old friends pop in during the week to catch up with each other and pretend to be young again. Everyone seemed to have a good time so definitely well worth the chaos a midweek event tends to throw up.

A good week on the nursery with only three vans and my car in the garage. Turbo trouble for one of the older vans, hoping it is just the sensor, fingers crossed.

Big day today with the last of the tunnels housing our oldest dregs of the overwintered stock, getting cleared. It usually takes us until the end of September to get round them all so getting there before the end of August is a cause for celebration, we may well have some Rich Tea biscuits for coffee break next week, at least for one day. We try to completely clear out each tunnel once a year, to give a really clean start to the fresh summer potted overwintering stock, so to get round all 36 tunnels does take a while. The last few tend to be in a bit of a state by the time we get there, but this year we got round so quickly that they weren't too bad. It is one of those parts in a chain of events that leads on to more little improvements further down the line, with potting getting done earlier, mulching start earlier and plants getting bigger before the winter. In theory, if it works out ok, everything gets done slightly more efficiently which save a bit more on time, so making better use of each hour which this year is costing over 8% more.

Some glorious personal retail results this week as work pressure drops a bit and thoughts turn to more exciting things. Last year the main wildlife pond on the nursery suffer a lack of oxygenation after we thinned out the choking plant growth in it, and then had no rain and blistering heat afterwards. Although growth and insect activity has recovered well since then, we wanted a small splashing device just to keep oxygen levels at optimum levels. This week a floating solar powered fountain arrived and is doing a perfect job. It is just a floating 6 inch pad of mini solar cells with a central spurting bit probably reaching 10inches high. It runs when there is light and stops when there isn't and just gently splashes away. A bargain at about £15. Hope it lasts more than a week!

As you will have realised I am a sensitive soul and have really struggled to find comfy trousers over the past few years. The fashionable cut for chaps has been on the narrowing side and not to my liking. Gone are the days of suffering for fashion (skin tight PVC trousers and peroxide hair are a long way off!) I will not put up with it. Consequently despite numerous trial purchases from different sources, I have been wearing my ancient kit to death and Caroline refuses to go out with me anymore as I reverted to wearing either my comfy but tatty work ones or my slightly odd Rupert Bear smarter ones (don't ask). Anyway, M&S have just bought out a new style with not just elasticated waist bands, but a smart and generous leg cut. I can't believe how comfy they are. That's me sorted for another 10 years, fashion can do what it likes again, I'm done. 

Availability list.

Plenty of fast growing stock at the moment with some lines only available for a few weeks before they get too big and have to wait for the main spring sales period after we have completed their overwinter manicure (cut back and mulched). We have a few bits and pieces in bud and flower and a few of the autumn/winter lines come along (check out the lists attached).

The autumn flowering Cyclamen (hederifolium) is now showing colour and should do so through the next couple of months before the C. coum varieties take over. There are a few buds on the Anemones and the Asters are getting close to colour too.

Masses of colour on the new batch of Erodium Bishops Form which should flower for quite a while yet. Foliage colour looking smart on Ajuga and Heuchera always popular autumn lines. The ever-giving Erigeron karv. Stallone has moved into another fresh batch with still more bud on show. We have had this in flower in December in the garden in previous years (assuming the weather is not too abusive).

A slightly odd collection to see in bud and flower are the Phlox paniculata and subulata ranges but there they are. The paniculata range is shorter than 'normal' as they are this summers potting so haven't yet reached full size but they are strong and bushy and giving a hint of next year's potential show.

Lots of Helleborous now coming on line showing lots of potential for later in the winter and early Spring. There are already a few odd flowers on the H. niger Christmas Carol so Santa can't be far away!

Wooden box collections

If you have any of our wooden boxes ready to return and aren't expecting to order anytime soon, then please do drop us an email and let us know. A rough idea of numbers might be handy but not essential. We will get to you as soon as we have a vehicle with space in your area. Thanks

Take care out there,  from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.

Hairy hosting

Hi,

Must not be long on this one as Mum has come down for a weekend visit and I'm already in trouble for being too late home.

First exciting trip out for her was to drive to the van garage in Andover to pick me up after dropping off the 7.5t one off for one of its 10 weekly inspections it has to have then back home for a quick cuppa and back down to the nursery to plant a few new pond plants in one of our refurbished wildlife ponds. The house cleaning has already started and we can now see the floor colour of the conservatory again which is always a nice surprise.

Busy week as usual with lots of well earned holiday absences knocking back the work schedule a bit. Several visits this week from suppliers checking up on how our season had gone and revealing a few new things on the horizon that they would like us to buy into. We are trialling a few different peat-free propagation modules at the moment to see if we can improve on the existing ones, so there was a lot of inspecting and ideas floating around as to how the best results. I think we are a bit further forward especially with a potential option to extend the use of reusable module trays which we would definitely welcome. Another visit was from Stuart our trusted advisor on all things pest and disease orientated from Fargro. On our tour round the nursery he was very kind about how healthy everything looked especially considering that we were growing it all in our peat- free compost. Lots of people are doing lots of trials at the moment in an effort to get themselves ready for the upcoming peat- free change over and many are having major quality and crop damage issues. Every nursery and crop is different and unfortunately it can take a while to find the right compost mix and crop management regime to be a consistent as the tried and trusted peat based alternatives. Luckily we have been testing for well over 10 years and have been peat-free for 8, so I am hoping we have sorted out a lot of the issues we had in the early stages. It might have cost us a bit over that time in extra costs and a few plant losses when things went wrong, but now we are glowing in the warm realisation that something we invested in has actually paid off!

Anyway I have wandered off the subject of advancements in Pest and Disease control and our discussions with Stuart. It looks very much like the number of available chemical controls is going to continue to fall as a combination of legislation and economics combine to make selling into ornamental horticultures tiny market impractical for the big chemical companies. So the focus may well change to improving plant health and leaf cell strength so they can resist the pests and diseases more vigorously. Application of more natural additives like seaweed extracts and other bio-stimulants should give us better resistance together with continued use and development of high value (to the suppliers) predators and bio-chemicals. Unfortunately a lot of the things that need to be applied are preventative treatments so need spraying every couple of weeks and this is a major labour issue at present. We currently only spot spray on the odd occasion when something gets out of hand, to minimise the spraying operator costs which are the main cost involved. So to add total nursery spray regimes for multiple stimulants on a weekly or fortnightly basis is just no longer practical and will need new application methods. I had seen that Fargro had been doing shade spraying demonstrations with flying drones doing the job, but the follow up has not yet been done to apply mixes within growing houses, because the pesticide regulations are just not up to coping or allowing such use, despite the fact that you could remove the spraying operative from a potentially harmful situation. Now the interesting thing that came up in conversation this week was that the bio-stimulants are harmless additives which don't come under the pesticide rules, so could in theory be applied by drone inside the production tunnels we just need to get the drones set up right. Discussions are progressing, watch this space!.

Availability list.

The available range is steadying as sales slow a bit and extra potting volumes work their way through the system. Numbers available are still a bit limited on some lines as batch sizes tend to be smaller at this time of year but with reduced demand the pressure isn't quite so manic.

There are now a few more buds showing up and there are still more new lines growing nicely which will appear on the lists fairly soon. Our list constantly develops over the season so it's always worth just keeping an eye out for the new appearances.

Wooden box collections

Don't forget that all our wooden boxes are the property of Kirton Farm Nurseries so will need to be returned at some point. It will take us a while to get round everyone, but if you have any of our wooden boxes ready to return and aren't expecting to order anytime soon, then please do drop us an email and let us know. A rough idea of numbers might be handy but not essential. We will get to you as soon as we have a vehicle with space in your area. Thanks

Take care out there,

from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.

Hairy and summery

Morning,

Steamy day today with warm temperatures and high humidity. The promised return of summer looks like being a short lived affair which is fine by me. Next week looks ok in the south with some more settled weather after another damp and breezy weekend. The farm are desperate for a run of better weather so they can get a decent run at the harvest. So far they have been chipping away at it between the rain and showers so aren't catastrophically behind with about 35% cleared, but this time last year they were all but finished. A run of 5 or 6 days dry warm and breezy would make all the difference so fingers crossed it all happens next week.

The news on the economy looks a bit uninspiring and I'm thankful that we seem to be doing better than most other ecomonic sectors with demand remaining strong assuming the weather is with us. Our production volumes and sales have increased marginally this year which considering the long cool spring during our main sales period, is a great result. It is probably a good thing the weather wasn't too much better otherwise we may have run short of stock even earlier and that always adds another layer of stress as a plant supplier as we can't just instantly produce more plants to sell. I am told by the accountant types that to sell out is the best thing for a business, but I can't help feeling guilty about not being able to satisfy customer demand and letting you down by not having a list bursting with range and colour! I wonder sometimes if I really have what it takes to be a master businessman, I am lacking in that killer instinct!

We had the electricians here for 4 days this week and made some progress although we are still not properly set up on the rainwater recycling front. We managed to pump a few cubic meters of water from the new sump into the new storage tank but were unable to get it to run automatically. We had been told it was all set up to work so another visit is being arranged to fettle the last bits and get it running. Par for the course so not too disappointed.

So many people on holiday and ill at the moment resulting in the potting machine not being as busy as it should have been. I can see the days shortening and the growing season slipping away I just want to get it all in a pot asap so it makes a mega plant by next spring. Must try not to panic, I know we are a few weeks ahead of recent years production but with slightly higher volumes in the pipeline for the coming season we still have a bit of sprinting to do. It is very tempting to take your foot off the pedal as sales slow a bit and the tunnels fill up, but every week earlier the stock is potted in the summer is worth 3 weeks growth in October hence the rush to get it done.

Hopefully the England women footballers are on the ball tomorrow and they put on a good show. Shame about the netball team who did brilliantly reaching their world cup final. Good job it's not the result that counts but the way you play the game!

Availability list.

The available range is steadying as sales slow a bit and extra potting volumes work their way through the system. Numbers available are still a bit limited on some lines as batch sizes tend to be smaller at this time of year but with reduced demand the pressure isn't quite so manic.

There are now a few more buds showing up and there are still more new lines growing nicely which will appear on the lists fairly soon. Our list constantly develops over the season so it's always worth just keeping an eye out for the new appearances.

Wooden box collections

Don't forget that all our wooden boxes are the property of Kirton Farm Nurseries so will need to be returned at some point. It will take us a while to get round everyone, but if you have any of our wooden boxes ready to return and aren't expecting to order anytime soon, then please do drop us an email and let us know. A rough idea of numbers might be handy but not essential. We will get to you as soon as we have a vehicle with space in your area. Thanks

Take care out there,

from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.

Hairy hearing

Hi,

Another week passes with more cool damp weather and another stormy weekend to come, but summer is due to return later in the week which hopefully will get the visitor numbers back up again. The nursery here is rapidly filling again with all the stock getting potted for next spring sales. I thought we were well ahead but I'm panicking again now that growing season is slipping past us with still lots to do. Christmas must be just around the corner with the football season starting tonight and Saints playing at Sheffield in the Championship League. We got walloped last season and relegated from the Premiership. They are keen to bounce back this season but we'll see what happens, it's a tough league to get out of unless, like last time it happened, we went straight down another league! Hopefully the England women's world cup team will do us all proud and the netball ladies too. Lots to cheer about in reality.

Luckily the cooler weather has greatly reduced irrigation demand as we are having to manually turn the sprinklers on and off on one third of the nursery where we seem to have developed a wiring issue which means the solenoids aren't responding to the controller. It will now involve a weekend of checking each decoder, control valve and wiring connection until I find the break. Might leave it until Sunday as tomorrow looks a bit wild at the moment and I will be damp enough from the repair work without adding rain into the equation too.

Electricians are due back next week for more fun and games testing and reconnecting the replacement cabling. There are a couple of distribution boards to replace and then possibly the rain recycling will be up and running. I must admit they aren't promising anything, they will have to wait and see what the test results are to see if we have any other issues that need resolving. One day.

The new car is working a treat and despite the salesman telling us it didn't have 'heads up display' or the capability to do bidirectional charging, it would appear to be able to do both. Quite excited about the bidirectional bit as it means that we can potentially use a good chunk of the 77kW battery capacity to feed back onto the nursery, or into the house, when we need it. It's all fairly new technology and I might have to wait a bit to put it into operation because it's not the cars capabilities that matter it is the wall charger that need to be special. There are very few bidirectional chargers available yet and I found out this week that rather than £600 for a standard charger it is likely to be £6,000 plus installation fees. We would have to save a lot of imported power to make that viable at the moment. I also found out that with a 3 phase supply, as we have on the nursery, we would need battery storage on each of the 3 phases not just on one, so I don't think the car on its own would work. More investigations to be done there.

As the sales slow down a bit we have started on a bit of maintenance, just trying to get things back on an even keel after a hectic spring season. The sprinkler replacements have progressed nicely and the re-hanging of some of the lines that have sagged over time has been completed. We have a collection of tunnels to recover which split over the winter and early spring, but just need some warmer and still conditions to get it done. 

My own maintenance has been hectic too, with eyes, teeth and ears all having to be seen to over the last couple of weeks, what fun it is getting old! Best result was the ears earlier today with a thorough hoover out after a week of softening, A bit noisy but very gently done and very dramatic results, I'm back in full stereo with a full pass on the post operative hearing test too, so quite relieved that there is no further action needed. Everything is suddenly so loud and clear. I still can't hear what Caroline is asking me to do, but apparently that is a different type of deafness.

Availability list.

The available range is steadying as sales slow a bit and extra potting volumes work their way through the system. Numbers available are still a bit limited on some lines as batch sizes tend to be smaller at this time of year but with reduced demand the pressure isn't quite so manic.

There are now a few more buds showing up and there are still more new lines growing nicely which will appear on the lists fairly soon. Our list constantly develops over the season so it's always worth just keeping an eye out for the new appearances.

Wooden box collections

Don't forget that all our wooden boxes are the property of Kirton Farm Nurseries so will need to be returned at some point. It will take us a while to get round everyone, but if you have any of our wooden boxes ready to return and aren't expecting to order anytime soon, then please do drop us an email and let us know. A rough idea of numbers might be handy but not essential. We will get to you as soon as we have a vehicle with space in your area. Thanks

Take care out there,

from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.

Hairy hoses

Morning, 

The unsettled cool summer continues and personally I love it. It hasn't been a washout by any means here, with a lot of the rainfall coming overnight, temperatures are sensible for working and there has been minimal disruption to despatch and production. The main summer disruption is about to descend on us with a loads of holidays being taken. It's a good job we are reasonably together with the potting as I think the next month or two are going to be a bit of a juggle to get it all done. We have started an irrigation refurbishment project in our spare time after we noticed that a lot of the mini tunnel sprinklers were falling apart after years of UV degradation. The mini tap handles break so you can't turn individual sprinklers off and on, the bit that whizzes round loses one or both of its little arms which throw the water around and many of the non-drip valves drip! They are tiny plastic components but the total cost of well over £3,000 for the replacements was a bit of a surprise. It will take a few days to install them too, but the ones we have started on are already showing improved more even water spread so I'm sure it will be worth it in the end. One really irritating thing at this time of year is a certain small spider species which loves making its home inside the tiny hole at the base of the sprinkler head causing uneven patterns, despite the nozzles being used on a daily basis,. Most of the time the sprinklers clear themselves after a while, but the thrashing about of the sprinkler heads quite often results in them becoming detached and needing further attention. With over 900 sprinklers on the nursery it can be a big job and you know it will probably need doing again in a day or two. A good job to do when it's hot, not so much fun in the cold and damp as the water always runs right down your arm inside your clothes and gets absolutely everywhere.

Erigeron Stallone sales this year have been hitting levels we have never seen before, possibly because I managed to keep availability fairly steady across the season. Previously I have bought the seed which is tiny and very expensive especially as I direct sow it quite generously it into our big peat-free plugs. Even when I try to be mean with the sowing volumes it still doesn't go very far. Last year I thought I would try and harvest my own seed from a few selected stock plants and I found out why they were so expensive. Firstly the flowering and seeding are continuous right through the summer and well into autumn, so there is no right time to harvest you just have to pick them one flower-head at a time once it reaches the right stage. I picked everyday for probably 3 months in order to get enough and even then they weren't in the nice clean condition they arrive in inside the proper seed packet. Mine still have their fluffy feathery bits attached for potential wind distribution and a load of old petals too, but they still germinated really well after keeping then in a sealed seed packet in the fridge. Having the fluffy bits makes sowing a bit of a challenge as not only do they have the tendency to try and leave the area but you can't always be sure you are sowing the seed or the old petals! I am about to start harvesting this year's crop and I'm hoping it goes as well as last year despite the very different summer conditions.

Another home collected seed crop is our Wild Primrose which is a bit hit and miss on harvesting too, but for different reasons. The seed is ready for picking quite a long time after the flowers have disappeared and the timing works out to be right in the middle of our hectic sales season. Get it wrong and the seed has gone, or get there too early and it hasn't ripened and doesn't germinate. Luckily I got it right last year so this coming winter and spring we should have a great crop of flowering primroses. They are already potted and growing away well. We harvest from the 'new' farm woodland next to the nursery, where we originally planted several thousand primrose modules about 35 years ago. Where does the time go?

Availability list.

The available range is steadying as sales slow a bit and extra potting volumes work their way through the system. Numbers available are still a bit limited on some lines as batch sizes tend to be smaller at this time of year but with reduced demand the pressure isn't quite so manic.

There are now a few more buds showing up now and there are still more new lines growing nicely which will be appearing on the lists fairly soon. Our list constantly develops over the season so it's always worth just keeping an eye out for the new appearances.

Wooden box collections

Don't forget that all our wooden boxes are the property of Kirton Farm Nurseries so will need to be returned at some point. It will take us a while to get round everyone, but if you have any of our wooden boxes ready to return and aren't expecting to order anytime soon, then please do drop us an email and let us know. A rough idea of numbers might be handy but not essential. We will get to you as soon as we have a vehicle with space in your area. Thanks

Take care out there,

from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.

New and hairy

Hi,

Looks like a bit of a damp weekend, good for the garden but perhaps not so clever for visitor numbers and credit card use on outdoor plants. I know I would rather it was like this than the heat being endured in Southern Europe. Difficult to believe that this time last year we were being baked in temperatures in the very high 30's.

Sales are still ticking over nicely and we are beginning to collect in quite a few of our empty boxes on our travels. The stocks of cleaned dry boxes are already being stacked and stored away bit by bit, into the barn now that the sales peak has passed. Slightly scary that the income will also now start to slow up a bit, but hopeful there will still be some left to see us through the winter while not hassling the bank for too much extra capacity in the overdraft, especially as the rates have gone up a tad on a year ago.

Tunnel clearing is going well as is the potting for next season. We are not quite on top of it but are well ahead of the last few slightly more chaotic years. Just as I think we are catching up another delivery of plants comes in and puts the pressure back on. The sooner we pot it the better the crop does and fewer losses we get, so time and weather are key to getting crops in good condition for overwintering. The current weather pattern is great for most crops and much easier to manage than last summers extreme heat.

More progress on the rain recycling project this week with another new cable being buried across the site. A bit of disruption with trenches, soft trench refill and drying concrete, but the cable is in so just need the electricians to pitch up to replace a distribution board or two and wire it all in. Fingers crossed this time all will be up and running before the summer ends. Managed to squeeze in my trip to one of the Ball-Colgrave open days this week. Well worth the effort, the planted out beds looked fantastic with lots of photo opportunities and the potted demo areas gave me plenty of ideas for adding some new varieties to future lists. Looking even further forward they had a lot of their potential new perennial test varieties set out in pots on beds. There were plenty of definite no-no's for us, which is the norm with trials, but there were some absolute crackers amongst them. Steve Austin, their main perennial man (well worth the $6 million), took me round the plots which was great as I could quiz him on likely level of cost and ease of growing as well as indicating what would be the good ones for us in our relatively small pot and our select market!

Watch out in the next couple of years for a relatively compact purple/bronze leaved Verbena bonariensis with contrasting pink flowers, probably the star of the show for me. No name yet but I will try and get some to try out before it comes out on general release. Just hoping it isn't priced out of our range.

I was guilt free, other than not being on the nursery, as I was fully wind powered in both directions. There is a lot to be said for a high fibre vegetarian diet. The new car had its first proper journey and behaved perfectly. Most of the techy kit I haven't quite mastered yet, but the 'heads up' display of speed, local speed limit and sat-nav directions is a joy to use.

Availability list.

The available range is picking up again as sales slow a bit and extra potting volumes work their way through the system. Numbers available are still a bit limited on some lines as batch sizes tend to be smaller at this time of year but with reduced demand the pressure isn't quite so manic.

There are now a few more buds showing up now and there are still more new lines growing nicely which will be appearing on the lists fairly soon. Our list constantly develops over the season so it's always worth just keeping an eye out for the new appearances.

Wooden box collections

Don't forget that all our wooden boxes are the property of Kirton Farm Nurseries so will need to be returned at some point. It will take us a while to get round everyone, but if you have any of our wooden boxes ready to return and aren't expecting to order anytime soon, then please do drop us an email and let us know. A rough idea of numbers might be handy but not essential. We will get to you as soon as we have a vehicle with space in your area. Thanks

Take care out there,

from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.

Hairy seat position

Hi,

Sorry I'm a bit late it has been a very busy end of the week with so much clearing and potting getting done, a car to collect and various printer and computer crashes and breakdowns to contend with. The weather didn't help today and I'm sat here in a pool of damp having got caught out in a torrential downpour. I was expecting the winds today but not getting quite so wet. Luckily most of the potting team are under cover so it didn't stop play and now they have all slipped away to enjoy the rest of the weekend.

I will have to keep this short so I can send out the info asap that you really want, rather than more waffle from me.

New car got fixed during the week allowing us to collect it Friday afternoon. It's now sat outside awaiting a trip out to see how it goes. Looks fine but it is full of so much technical stuff it'll take me forever to understand it all. The longest part of the handover was taken up downloading the VW app onto Caroline's phone and putting all the necessary info in there to allow us to drive it! So the car and phone now talk to each other and VW appear to have access to all our other stuff. So far it has rained a lot scine the pick up so not really got to grips with it yet. I drove it down to the nursery this morning but not before a 15 minute challenge trying to work out the electrics controlling the seat position. At frustrating one point I could only make it go backwards and ended up virtually in the back seat and couldn't reach the pedals. Why all this complication just to alter the seat position, what was wrong with the manual adjusters, no wonder the world is running out of resources. It's a wonder there is any power left to make the thing go along the road. I'm sure we will love it in the end.

Going to pop into one of the Ball-Colgrave demonstration days on Wednesday. It's been a few years since I've managed to get there so I'm looking forward to that. A great chance to take a few pictures of some of the plants they supply us with and spot some new varieties we haven't yet tried. Now I can get there under wind turbine energy I will feel all the more righteous, looking forward into the future on multiple levels. To my mind I think that has justified my day out.

Availability list.

The available range is picking up again as sales slow a bit and extra potting volumes work their way through the system. Numbers available are still a bit limited on some lines as batch sizes tend to be smaller at this time of year but with reduced demand the pressure isn't quite so manic.

There are now a few more buds showing up now and there are still more new lines growing nicely which will be appearing on the lists fairly soon. Our list constantly develops over the season so it's always worth just keeping an eye out for the new appearances.

Take care out there,

from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.