Hairy trolley

Hi

Another week closer to the big day and despite it only being the 8th Caroline tells me we only have one more full week before people start disappearing on their festive breaks. With a few taking the week after New Year off too, it looks like productivity might take a dip over nearly three weeks, which brings forward the Spring all of a sudden, and I can see us running out of time to get those winter chores done. To be fair I'm not panicking too much, this is a great time for a break for everyone, recharging the batteries and using a fair dollop of their annual holiday up before we start getting really busy again.

We had another couple of days tree cutting this week with a massive cutting machine on site which held the tallest poplars with a grab while it cut the trunk below. It held the tree top up after cutting and carefully lowered it to the ground it a neat stack ready for chipping the following day. All over in a flash. Next day a monster chipper came in to devour the remains, chewing up the trees whole, leaving piles for us to spread around the nursery as part of the weed control efforts.

Just a couple more days to go I hope, A bit of levelling and neatening of this week's cuts and a long laurel hedge to get back under control. That should clear the last of the light depriving foliage while leaving us enough cover for wind protection and predator sanctuary.

I am hoping I have made a big step forward on the monitoring of our Net Zero carbon project. We have already done a lot of work reducing carbon use since we started monitoring energy use back in 2009, but have recently come up against a bit of a brick wall when trying to plot a way to get to Net Zero. The main issue is the calculating of our 'Scope 3' carbon use. Scope 3 mostly covers all the goods and services we buy into the business, they take a lot of calculating, if you can find the data to work it out, and it usually accounts for the vast majority of carbon use within a business. The other problem is that you don't do this calculation once, you need to do it continually so you can track your progress. The thought of compiling all this data on a regular basis is daunting, even if you found a way of doing for the first time, and a big downside is that it won't necessarily improve business profitability, it would probably make it worse. There are companies and software out there who are trying to help (at a cost) but very little up to now offering a practical cheap and relevant solution.

Most calculations are done using generic carbon values for different categories of input, based on the total costs. Values are a bit vague at the moment but you have to start somewhere, and you can improve accuracy as you progress over time. The simple answer is to tie the carbon calculation directly into your accounts software and this is what Sage are doing with a new product called Sage Earth. It isn't yet fully launched for all their accounts packages but it is available on some. On entering your accounts data it will constantly update your carbon calculations and at only about £10 a month looks like a bargain solution. We are in the process of signing up as part of an 'early user' scheme so I suspect we will have a few teething issues to contend with, but at least they look like they are coming up with a very practical solution.

Back on a more physical level, my other project this week has been to come up with a super lightweight plant trolley that will carry 3 trays with minimal effort. I have looked around for years for something, but every trolley I bought has weighed a ton. So I hit the internet and put together a bike trailer, a couple of bits of aluminium, a lot of PVC water pipe with fittings, and a bit of galvanised mesh and came up with a winner, I think. Just hoping it performs better than my cardboard ski's I made as a kid, which worked so well on the carpet! 

Prices for 2024

The last couple of years have seen some explosive cost increases and we were forced over that time to increase our prices by more than ever before, although still below the inflation rate and definitely well below the rate at which our own costs have risen. However, improved efficiencies, reduced waste and increased output have made up some of the difference and kept margins workable. Labour remains by far our biggest cost and wage rates rose significantly this year and will rise even more in 2024, but we are hoping other costs are beginning to settle down and are not rising quite as quickly.

There will be a price rise at the end of the year, but we are keeping it to 4%, at 10p per pot.

Availability list.

Cyclamen coum pink and white forms are already on the list and showing the flower and bud. These will usually flower from October through until well into Spring, with a tasteful sprinkling of flowers rather than being drowned in them. There are already a few flowers on the Helleborus niger varieties so Santa can't be far away! New varieties of H. orientalis for us are Halcyon Early Dark Red and Halcyon White Spotted which have both surprised us by showing a few buds already, especially now the white one.

A few of the spring bulbs are starting to poke through now and Erysimum's are already looking perky with bud showing on some. A can't believe I'm thinking Spring is on its way.

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

Hairy pruning

Hi

December already and it's seasonal festivities all around us. I hope whatever Christmas chaos you are organising this year is going as planned, it can be a stressful time for many, it's not all fun and games. Luckily for us, with very limited Christmas fare to sell, the biggest stress is finding a suitable Secret Santa gift to open at the Christmas lunch in a couple of weeks. Even at this time of year there still seems to be lots going on. We had the tree surgeons in all this week, cutting back our Poplar and Leylandii windbreaks and it is turning out to be a mammoth job. A high reach cherry picker means there is no climbing involved, but when you see how high it is working at you realise just how out of hand the shelter belts had become. The difference it has made has surprised us all, there is masses more light coming into the tunnels close by and the whole site suddenly looks less dominated by overhanging tree growth. It almost looks like we have regained control of the site! I can actually see the horizon from the office which probably hasn't happened for 25 years. They are back for at least another two days next week when we have a big 'grab and cut' machine and a bigger chipper which should cope better with the larger trees closer to the road. We are saving all the chippings for mulching around the nursery site to help keep herbicide use to a minimum. I suspect we may need them another few days later in the winter, to finish off this year's trim and them back again next year for phase two of this hedge and tree management reshuffle. I had been thinking that the return against cost for this project was going to be all negative, but now I have seen all the extra light in the tunnels we are going greatly to improve plant growth in those areas and not have to leave blocks unused because they only suited a few shade lovers. It's always nice to justify those big expenses one way or another.

Preparations for next year's sales are bowling along. A new batch of wooden box parts has been delivered and construction on another 1,500 boxes is underway. This should give us plenty of stock to cover a few damage losses and the extra customers we may have picked up for 2024. At about £10 each it's another big outlay, but we get an average of nearly 4 uses a year from each one and they are lasting 8+ years, so they are still good value and of course they avoid the use of those single use plastic trays and give you zero waste to dispose of.

We are now back up to a full pack of working vans after the oldest received a whole new reconditioned engine, clutch and coolant system. Not cheap but the van was otherwise in great condition and it was a lot cheaper than a new one and will be a great back up vehicle. New bank manager came for a visit this week, to have a look at what we were up to and review our bank facilities for the year. These annual visits used to make me quite anxious, but luckily I think I've got the hang of it now. We are in such a better position now than we were ten years ago, which helps a lot. Luckily he was quite into environmental business development, so we pressed a lot of the right buttons and he went away happy enough.

Slightly sad week with one of our hard working Polish ladies heading off into retirement and back to Poland to look after some of her grandchildren. She had been with us for over 13 years so it was quite emotional for us all, but on the plus side she did leave us all with a mountain of Polish cakes to get through. She was a fantastic cook and we will miss her, not just for the cakes.

Prices for 2024

The last couple of years have seen some explosive cost increases in the after affects of the pandemic, the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and now Gaza. We were forced over that time to increase our prices by more than ever before, but still below the inflation rate and definitely well below the rate at which our own costs have risen. However, improved efficiencies, reduced waste and increased output do appear to have made up some of the difference and kept margins workable. Labour remains by far our biggest cost and wage rates rose significantly this year and will be rising by even more in 2024, but we are hoping other costs are beginning to settle down and are not rising quite as quickly.

There will be a price rise at the end of the year, but we are keeping it to 4%, at 10p per pot.

Availability list.

Cyclamen coum pink and white forms are already on the list and showing the flower and bud. These will usually flower from October through until well into Spring, with a tasteful sprinkling of flowers rather than being drowned in them. 

There are already a few flowers on the Helleborus niger varieties so Santa can't be far away! New varieties of H. orientalis for us are Halcyon Early Dark Red and Halcyon White Spotted which have both surprised us by showing a few buds already, especially now the white one. Both are intended to be quicker flowering varieties, whereas some of the others can be a bit shy until their second season.

A few of the spring bulbs are starting to poke through now and Erysimum's are already looking perky with bud showing on some. A can't believe I'm thinking Spring is on its way.

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

Hairy Increase

Hi,

Well that's the holiday for the year all done and dusted. Did you miss me?! I thought not.

Cornwall was wild and windy almost every day for the whole two weeks, but it made for some fantastic seascapes and rainbows, huge waves and great colours. A vast amount of fantastic food was eaten so I'm now on a starvation diet to try and recover before Christmas. Rather worryingly I never shifted all of last year's holiday gains so a concerted effort is going to be needed or I am in danger of being no longer able to reach the keyboard at my desk. After a week back the post holiday blues are subsiding as we get back into the swing of things, and it seems like a distant memory already, but at least we are now feeling recharged.

Talking of which, any pre holiday apprehensions about charging the car were all blown away too. We charged off-site for the first time on several super quick fast chargers, no queues, no malfunctions, and little time wasted. We managed to combine all the stops with a coffee break or shopping trip, and charging was completed by the time we returned. Payments were all pretty cheap and contactless, wave your card, plug in, it tells you a time it will finish, unplug and just drive off. The only concern we did have was the etiquette of charging, what do you do if another car has finished charging but the driver isn't present and you want to charge at that charger? Are you allowed to disconnect them? I suspect not, although it must be very tempting. Luckily that issue never arose for us and for 90 % of the year we will always charge back here from the turbines anyway, which is even cheaper.

The Autumn budget statement was a bit of a surprise with the living wage increasing to £11.44/hr after pre-budget rumours whispering £11.00. Perhaps they muttered too quietly and I misheard. Although we do generally pay a little more than the minimum, we will be putting up our wages by the same amount to keep rates reasonably attractive and because at that level of pay it can be a real struggle to make ends meet. For high labour input industries like ours, hospitality, social and childcare it is going to be a challenge finding the extra cash needed without prices or social budgets having to increase again and I haven't yet heard how that challenge is going to be met. It will be interesting to see how things develop over the rest of the year. It has slightly upset my cost price evaluation for 2024 but I've already committed to just the 10p rise so we will have to redouble efficiency efforts and sell a few more plants which I was hoping to do anyway.

The extension of the tax relief on businesses for money spent on internal investment is going to be useful, especially as I have real trouble resisting buying new kit for the nursery to keep improving things. After all the spending on rain water harvesting over the last two years, it will be the turn of solar panels this coming year if we can get the installers and electric companies to play with each other nicely. We have been stalled for months because the DNO (Distribution Network Operator) doesn't seem to be able to find out the maximum amount of electricity we can feed back into the grid, At the moment they say that according to their records we have don't have any wind turbines and only have capacity for our 3Kw of solar panels (which we don't have). Despite having the right MPAN numbers (they are the supply/meter identification numbers) they seem unable to sort it out. We spent a fortune with the DNO putting in a separate supply and substation for the turbines when we put them in during 2011, I can't believe they can't find the records and information needed to progess. 

Prices for 2024

The last couple of years have seen some explosive cost increases in the after affects of the pandemic, the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and now Gaza. We were forced over that time to increase our prices by more than ever before, but still below the inflation rate and definitely well below the rate at which our own costs have risen. However, improved efficiencies, reduced waste and increased output do appear to have made up some of the difference and kept margins workable. Labour remains by far our biggest cost and wage rates rose significantly this year and will be rising by even more in 2024, but we are hoping other costs are beginning to settle down and are not rising quite as quickly.

There will be a price rise at the end of the year, but we are keeping it to 4%, at 10p per pot.

Availability list.

Cyclamen coum pink and white forms are already on the list and showing the flower and bud. These will usually flower from

October through until well into Spring, with a tasteful sprinkling of flowers rather than being drowned in them. There are already a few flowers on the Helleborus niger varieties so Santa can't be far away!

New varieties of H. orientalis for us are Halcyon Early Dark Red and Halcyon White Spotted which have both surprised us by showing a few buds already, especially now the white one. Both are intended to be quicker flowering varieties, whereas some of the others can be a bit shy until their second season.

A few of the spring bulbs are starting to poke through now and Erysimum's are already looking perky with bud showing on some. A can't believe I'm thinking Spring is on its way.

Take care out there,  

from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.