Morning all,
What a lovely week on the weather front. Great for getting out there and watch spring springing. Despite the forecast not being as good for the weekend it has been fine here, lots of sun and warm again. I have packed away my fleece lined trousers for the summer and look forward to taking my hat off soon. The fleece lined trousers were a revelation in the coldest weather of the winter, replacing my rather scary ‘two trouser’ fashion of earlier times. They came via a catalogue company called Chums which had loads of very useful bits of kit specially selected for those no longer in the first flush of youth. Slightly frightening was the pamphlets for mobility scooters and special pants that came in the parcel, but hey, the trousers did the job and I’m now old enough not to care!
Anyway talking of safety pants, I attended an open day run by the HSE at a local farm this week. It was mainly agriculturally based but did have quite a few good reminders of some of the most common safety issues associated with smaller outdoor enterprises too. Ladder safety, manual handling, safe handling of chemicals and vehicle use were all there with some sensible advice and a few scare stories to accompany it. It’s really a bit dull and negative to focus on this sort of stuff but it is something we all have to bear in mind every day. Keep it safe, check stuff regularly, and watch out when you get tired, irritable or lazy. It’s all ok until an accident happens, then it’s too late. Luckily we don’t have quite the risks associated with farms, there were some truly horrendous tales of accidents over recent years which certainly makes you focus on things, but we all face risk, so be careful out there.
Availability list - Spring is here so if for some reason you lose your list you can now download it from the www.kirtonfarm.co.uk website.
Star of the week the week is Fritillaria meleagris in flower, we have a few, but they won’t be there long.
Eco news
An engineer from the National Grid came in this week to check out the site for the installation of a new pole mounted substation for the wind turbines. Everything was fine and he reckoned it should be done in 8 weeks if all goes well, although I was quite surprised that he knew nothing about why the installation was needed. I suppose as long as the right kit goes in it doesn’t matter what it is for. Once the dates are set for that then we should be able to work all the trenching, cabling and foundation installation in over that 8 weeks, ready for construction once the power is in place. I still can’t really believe after all this time that something is going to actually happen.
With Richard off at the end of the week we are losing our nursery egg supply so we are currently looking into a small production facility to compensate. We have a good local source of second-hand free range chickens to stock it but are still trying to tie down the accommodation. Chicken housing isn’t cheep! The current favourite option is to adapt a redundant cat pen although I’m not sure myself how well they would cope with the cat flap. The other decision is how many to eat, or will that just be too traumatic? I love a hot bird on a Sunday but can we get through the pre-roasting stage without a fuss, I suspect not. I bet it won’t take long before they all have names and all hope of breast and stuffing evaporate. Visions of ‘Chicken Run’ and the decision of which one for the pie come flooding back. How much easier it is to pick up a plastic wrapped bird at the supermarket, with none of the associated angst. But at least it would be real, it would have had a good run and we know where it’s come from.
Nature ramblings
Tiny tadpoles are swimming about already, it doesn’t take long in this warm weather.
Ordered our wildflower seed mix for sowing our patch of ground down by the new hedge as per planning conditions. We do have a bit of unused ground next to the hedge strip, so I ordered a bit extra to do that too. It’s a mix of annuals and perennials so hopefully will be effective from the first season and mature over the years.
Saw our first Red Kite of the year this week, soaring in the sun with a couple of Buzzards. Hopefully they will continue their spread as they make such a dramatic addition to the skies. On the subject of birds of prey I keep an eye on the bird sitings in and around St Ives, just to see what I’m missing, and all this week they have been reporting a Golden Eagle over several sites. Now that is a spot.
Have a good week, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries
Monday 28 March 2011
Monday 21 March 2011
A relatively quiet week and weekend in comparison to this time last year and all the 20 years previous to this one. At long last we have got back to concentrating on growing plants, developing our own plans for the nursery and simply doing our own thing, and it is such a relief. In all those previous years we would have been shipping plants into the DIY multiples by now with all the pressure, stress and low personal and financial reward for all the effort involved. It could easily destroy any appreciation of the real joys of spring, the warming sun, bursting buds and the patter of gardener’s feet rushing out for their annual fix of gardening retail therapy. Although there still aren’t enough hours in the day at this time of year at least we are now focussed on doing something we feel is worth the effort. Other than the odd run in with the occasional big institution, like last week’s bank fiasco, we are back dealing with human beings again which has so much more going for it. So well done all you human beings out there!
Anyway, back to this ‘quiet’ week. Lots of orders as the weather improves and a bit of potting done too. Very nearly up to date with production in the microprop lab after a period of very high workload and the first seedling and cutting plant deliveries of the year are in. I finished clearing the hedge debris created when the turbine sites were cut back a few weeks ago, so they are ready for foundation installation sometime over the next couple of months.
The nursery has been selected as a finalist in the Business of the Year section of the Winchester Business Excellence Awards, which I think means we are finalists in at least one or maybe two other sections. I know it’s only a local do but it’s still nice to be loved by someone! The awards aren’t announced until June so I suspect we will get a visit from a judge or two before then, so best behaviour all round, could be tricky.
We managed to squeeze in a concert at a pub venue in Southampton to see Ben Waters playing with Charlie Watts (Rolling Stones), a brilliant night and so bizarre to see such a famous musician in such a tiny venue. Caroline had a good day yesterday with a Cat Protection training day (some people get all the excitement) and then going to see Southampton beat Sheffield Wednesday to move closer to an automatic promotion place. Meanwhile I lost my last hockey game of the year 2-1 at Oxford which means after a few weeks of freefall we are now awaiting other results to see if we get relegated. Ooops. A team curry last night helped improve spirits in the short term.
Eco news
Electric consumption continues to fall with warmer weather than last year during February, it’s down 8.82% on last year, 25.63% down on 2009 for the year as a whole. Every little bit helps. Next Saturday at 8.30pm is the WWF’s earth hour when they are encouraging people around the world to turn off their lights for an hour. You can register to take part at http://earthhour.wwf.org.uk/get_involved/signup/signup_individual.cfm
The nuclear power bubble seems to have deflated somewhat with the difficulties in Japan, perhaps it won’t be the easy answer to future energy demand after all. It does swing things a bit more back towards renewables for a bit which makes the turbine project even more exciting. This week we made our first big financial commitment to the scheme by handing over a large dollop to the National Grid chaps to put in a new sub station and some new cable. An interesting deal which demands payment up front and the possibility of the work taking 12 weeks to complete. So far I must admit they have been very helpful and I think quite excited about the first of this type of installation in the area. They certainly remembered us when I phoned to sort out the payment.
Nature ramblings
Having gone up to the hill top to clear hedge debris I couldn’t help but notice the lack of old nests in the bare hedge. In 400m I didn’t spot one. Just a few meters away, on the nursery, our hedge has loads of nests, I suppose we are talking about two different environments really, open arable fields and an insect rich, more sheltered nursery with winter feeding.
Have a good week, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries
Anyway, back to this ‘quiet’ week. Lots of orders as the weather improves and a bit of potting done too. Very nearly up to date with production in the microprop lab after a period of very high workload and the first seedling and cutting plant deliveries of the year are in. I finished clearing the hedge debris created when the turbine sites were cut back a few weeks ago, so they are ready for foundation installation sometime over the next couple of months.
The nursery has been selected as a finalist in the Business of the Year section of the Winchester Business Excellence Awards, which I think means we are finalists in at least one or maybe two other sections. I know it’s only a local do but it’s still nice to be loved by someone! The awards aren’t announced until June so I suspect we will get a visit from a judge or two before then, so best behaviour all round, could be tricky.
We managed to squeeze in a concert at a pub venue in Southampton to see Ben Waters playing with Charlie Watts (Rolling Stones), a brilliant night and so bizarre to see such a famous musician in such a tiny venue. Caroline had a good day yesterday with a Cat Protection training day (some people get all the excitement) and then going to see Southampton beat Sheffield Wednesday to move closer to an automatic promotion place. Meanwhile I lost my last hockey game of the year 2-1 at Oxford which means after a few weeks of freefall we are now awaiting other results to see if we get relegated. Ooops. A team curry last night helped improve spirits in the short term.
Eco news
Electric consumption continues to fall with warmer weather than last year during February, it’s down 8.82% on last year, 25.63% down on 2009 for the year as a whole. Every little bit helps. Next Saturday at 8.30pm is the WWF’s earth hour when they are encouraging people around the world to turn off their lights for an hour. You can register to take part at http://earthhour.wwf.org.uk/get_involved/signup/signup_individual.cfm
The nuclear power bubble seems to have deflated somewhat with the difficulties in Japan, perhaps it won’t be the easy answer to future energy demand after all. It does swing things a bit more back towards renewables for a bit which makes the turbine project even more exciting. This week we made our first big financial commitment to the scheme by handing over a large dollop to the National Grid chaps to put in a new sub station and some new cable. An interesting deal which demands payment up front and the possibility of the work taking 12 weeks to complete. So far I must admit they have been very helpful and I think quite excited about the first of this type of installation in the area. They certainly remembered us when I phoned to sort out the payment.
Nature ramblings
Having gone up to the hill top to clear hedge debris I couldn’t help but notice the lack of old nests in the bare hedge. In 400m I didn’t spot one. Just a few meters away, on the nursery, our hedge has loads of nests, I suppose we are talking about two different environments really, open arable fields and an insect rich, more sheltered nursery with winter feeding.
Have a good week, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries
Monday 14 March 2011
Morning all,
This is the first weekend when it has felt, to me, like the first stirrings of spring gardening weather. Bit brighter, warmer and more colourful. The daffs are all coming out and the buds are swelling and splitting in some of the hedges. Hurrah, let’s hope the tills swell as the purses split open when the gardening public hit the plant sales areas. The plants on the nursery certainly know it’s springtime with plenty of chunky fresh shoots getting going, even the Hostas are getting started.
It can seem a bit shallow this week to focus on the apparently trivial bits of our nursery life considering the astonishing events unfolding in Japan. The coverage of world events by new technology, ironically developed and produced in the area provides compelling images of a huge disaster which is still to unveil its true outcome. If there can be a bright side to such an event, it must be the Japanese peoples use of modern design and technology to build earthquake proof facilities and buildings. The relatively low loss of life from such a huge quake so close to the shoreline is quite astonishing when compared to the devastation in recent years in China, Christchurch and Haiti from relatively small quakes. It is such a tragic shame that the tsunami which followed hit so swiftly, before the warnings could be fully effective.
Back to our little world, and although we are weeny it is still our bit, and where we can still make things happen. It’s been week of ups and downs here. On the up side we were very busy again which is great and will be especially good when the dosh actually begins to flow back in and knock the overdraft back a bit! We also got a bit of potting done and three new samples of peat-free potting composts arrived for us to trial. We got most of the minor frost damage to the irrigation repaired, I hope, so not too many leaks when it is all switched on. We need a few more replacement valves before I can leave everything on all the time but we are not far off. We don’t quite have the automatic part of the system set up yet, so I am setting things going manually at the moment and this week I mastered a new bit of modern high tech to help, the timer alarm on my mobile. As I don’t get off the nursery much and have no friends my mobile rarely gets an outing, my monthly bill comes out at about 75p, so to find such a useful function makes the £50 it cost several years ago much more worthwhile. There is also the extra street cred to consider as I walk down the nursery, head down, mobile in hand, punching things into the key pad with my thumb, tripping over pots and falling into drains!
Thursday saw another birthday slip by with some lovely cards and presents and the shock of being so old that I couldn’t remember how old I actually was! I suffered a huge overdose of sugar through the day, with all the various cakes that arrived with visitors, but that was easier to recover from than an over indulgence in alcohol that used to occur in younger days.
Eco news
Chocolate Teapot of the Year goes to the general management and organisational unhelpfulness of the banking system. The week started really well on the turbine front, with lots of positive noises from the banks pilot renewable energy financing scheme and our bank manager, but got turned on its head over 24 hrs and they effectively forced us out of a deal, when they couldn’t make us fit in with the rules that each bank department has.
I don’t have enough space to explain the detail, but because putting in an energy installation is not as simple as buying a tractor or combine (surprising to who?) they can’t do it under the same system and the alternative way, at present, was to instruct solicitors and experts to do a load more stuff at a cost in excess of £20,000 to secure a right over the feed-in-tariff and all the kit, organise a shed load of extra separate security for the project and get us to finance the project to the point of completion when they would take it over. This basically means that for lots of extra cost and time delays, they would lend us the money just as long as we can prove that we don’t actually need it! Does anyone really want to get this sort of thing going, or is it all just lip service. We had our accountant in this week, to report back on the project figures and his simple answers to the questions of; is it a good deal for the investors and for the nursery? was that it was a ‘no brainer’ (in the positive sense). It was a short meeting. It is still all going ahead, but only with the help of our families and a further resolve on our part to reinvest any nursery profit rather than squandering it on management remuneration.
Have a good week, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries
PS. Frogspawn has appeared at last.
This is the first weekend when it has felt, to me, like the first stirrings of spring gardening weather. Bit brighter, warmer and more colourful. The daffs are all coming out and the buds are swelling and splitting in some of the hedges. Hurrah, let’s hope the tills swell as the purses split open when the gardening public hit the plant sales areas. The plants on the nursery certainly know it’s springtime with plenty of chunky fresh shoots getting going, even the Hostas are getting started.
It can seem a bit shallow this week to focus on the apparently trivial bits of our nursery life considering the astonishing events unfolding in Japan. The coverage of world events by new technology, ironically developed and produced in the area provides compelling images of a huge disaster which is still to unveil its true outcome. If there can be a bright side to such an event, it must be the Japanese peoples use of modern design and technology to build earthquake proof facilities and buildings. The relatively low loss of life from such a huge quake so close to the shoreline is quite astonishing when compared to the devastation in recent years in China, Christchurch and Haiti from relatively small quakes. It is such a tragic shame that the tsunami which followed hit so swiftly, before the warnings could be fully effective.
Back to our little world, and although we are weeny it is still our bit, and where we can still make things happen. It’s been week of ups and downs here. On the up side we were very busy again which is great and will be especially good when the dosh actually begins to flow back in and knock the overdraft back a bit! We also got a bit of potting done and three new samples of peat-free potting composts arrived for us to trial. We got most of the minor frost damage to the irrigation repaired, I hope, so not too many leaks when it is all switched on. We need a few more replacement valves before I can leave everything on all the time but we are not far off. We don’t quite have the automatic part of the system set up yet, so I am setting things going manually at the moment and this week I mastered a new bit of modern high tech to help, the timer alarm on my mobile. As I don’t get off the nursery much and have no friends my mobile rarely gets an outing, my monthly bill comes out at about 75p, so to find such a useful function makes the £50 it cost several years ago much more worthwhile. There is also the extra street cred to consider as I walk down the nursery, head down, mobile in hand, punching things into the key pad with my thumb, tripping over pots and falling into drains!
Thursday saw another birthday slip by with some lovely cards and presents and the shock of being so old that I couldn’t remember how old I actually was! I suffered a huge overdose of sugar through the day, with all the various cakes that arrived with visitors, but that was easier to recover from than an over indulgence in alcohol that used to occur in younger days.
Eco news
Chocolate Teapot of the Year goes to the general management and organisational unhelpfulness of the banking system. The week started really well on the turbine front, with lots of positive noises from the banks pilot renewable energy financing scheme and our bank manager, but got turned on its head over 24 hrs and they effectively forced us out of a deal, when they couldn’t make us fit in with the rules that each bank department has.
I don’t have enough space to explain the detail, but because putting in an energy installation is not as simple as buying a tractor or combine (surprising to who?) they can’t do it under the same system and the alternative way, at present, was to instruct solicitors and experts to do a load more stuff at a cost in excess of £20,000 to secure a right over the feed-in-tariff and all the kit, organise a shed load of extra separate security for the project and get us to finance the project to the point of completion when they would take it over. This basically means that for lots of extra cost and time delays, they would lend us the money just as long as we can prove that we don’t actually need it! Does anyone really want to get this sort of thing going, or is it all just lip service. We had our accountant in this week, to report back on the project figures and his simple answers to the questions of; is it a good deal for the investors and for the nursery? was that it was a ‘no brainer’ (in the positive sense). It was a short meeting. It is still all going ahead, but only with the help of our families and a further resolve on our part to reinvest any nursery profit rather than squandering it on management remuneration.
Have a good week, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries
PS. Frogspawn has appeared at last.
Monday 7 March 2011
Another rather brisk morning here. Glad to be tucked out of the wind for a couple of hours, the office is a cosy 12C (everything is relative) and I’ve got to put the brain in gear to create a few coherent sentences. I know I always say it’s been a busy week, but it’s happened again. You would think that after 27 years doing this we would stand still for a moment every now and then, but we don’t seem to be able to manage that. Luckily most of the stuff happening is positive in the long run if a little inconvenient just at the moment. We managed to get the reconditioned potting machine plumbed in and running towards the end of the week. Holly, our resident potting machine expert, even managed an overhaul of the conveyor belt, which involved a fair bit of fine tuning with the lump hammer. It worked brilliantly and we now have a near silent potting process having lost the combination of crashes and groans from the machine and an incessant squeak from the conveyor that has plagued the potters for years. Luckily for everyone they can hear clearly now the latest pop tunes from their record collections!
Unfortunately Richard, who many of you will have met or talked to on the phone, is leaving us at the end of the month. He has only been working part time over the last year since his family grew in number, and he has now been offered a very attractive position back at Hillier Nurseries researching, developing and trialling new plants for their production side of things. He has helped us through an enormous period of change since he arrived all those years ago, which we do appreciate and we are left with a much more manageable and rewarding business in the end.
I had a couple of rush jobs to do this week, one a surprise and the other just something that sneaked up on me. The sneaky one was the entry into the local business awards competition. We won a category a couple of years ago (innovation, for the hairy stuff) which was nice, but we had kept a low profile since then. But with the wind turbine planning stuff over the last year we have been noticed again and have had a couple of calls encouraging us to enter. I thought I had weeks to do it but then got an email reminding me the closing date was on Friday. I put aside a couple of evenings to cobble something together, it always takes me ten times as long as I expect, but managed to get something away. Then in yesterday’s paper they have extended the dates! Still, at least it’s done. If we get through to the finals we get to go to the awards dinner and last time there were two free tickets for the finalists, that’s a bit more attractive than the £180 each for the Grower of the Year awards!
With all this change it’s always nice to have some old standards to fall back on. I always enjoy a corny play on words, I’m sure emanating from the day my dad asked me if I wanted a whole piece of toast (when we were little we might only have a half slice), after a positive response I was presented with a slice with a huge hole cut out of the middle. That was to scar me for life! Every time at home when I get offered an avocado the response is of course ‘Yes please, I’ll avacardo’. Hilarious, especially after 27 years. Saturdays example was based on the arrival of a Jamaican Ginger cake for coffee break. ‘Hmm, Jamaca cake’,‘No, I got it from Sainsburys’. When I used to do a lot of knapsack spraying, the chant accompanying the repetitive pumping action was along the lines of, ‘Red Spider Mite, Red Spider Might, Red Spider might.’ I’m easily pleased!
If for some reason you lose your list you can now download it from the http://www.kirtonfarm.co.uk/website which should have the latest up to date version.
Eco news
The surprise job on Friday was to put together a last minute proposal for the bank to fund the turbine project. Having initially been very positive last summer, then the opposite in the autumn, they have had another change of heart at the very last minute. It might turn out to be a fortunate break for us as they are looking to run a pilot lending scheme and they need some ready-to-go projects to play with. This should mean quite attractive rates/charges etc and hopefully a very quick decision, but we still have to press enough of the right buttons to qualify. I have pressed all the buttons I can and we now await some response, hopefully some time in the next week.
Have a good week, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries
Unfortunately Richard, who many of you will have met or talked to on the phone, is leaving us at the end of the month. He has only been working part time over the last year since his family grew in number, and he has now been offered a very attractive position back at Hillier Nurseries researching, developing and trialling new plants for their production side of things. He has helped us through an enormous period of change since he arrived all those years ago, which we do appreciate and we are left with a much more manageable and rewarding business in the end.
I had a couple of rush jobs to do this week, one a surprise and the other just something that sneaked up on me. The sneaky one was the entry into the local business awards competition. We won a category a couple of years ago (innovation, for the hairy stuff) which was nice, but we had kept a low profile since then. But with the wind turbine planning stuff over the last year we have been noticed again and have had a couple of calls encouraging us to enter. I thought I had weeks to do it but then got an email reminding me the closing date was on Friday. I put aside a couple of evenings to cobble something together, it always takes me ten times as long as I expect, but managed to get something away. Then in yesterday’s paper they have extended the dates! Still, at least it’s done. If we get through to the finals we get to go to the awards dinner and last time there were two free tickets for the finalists, that’s a bit more attractive than the £180 each for the Grower of the Year awards!
With all this change it’s always nice to have some old standards to fall back on. I always enjoy a corny play on words, I’m sure emanating from the day my dad asked me if I wanted a whole piece of toast (when we were little we might only have a half slice), after a positive response I was presented with a slice with a huge hole cut out of the middle. That was to scar me for life! Every time at home when I get offered an avocado the response is of course ‘Yes please, I’ll avacardo’. Hilarious, especially after 27 years. Saturdays example was based on the arrival of a Jamaican Ginger cake for coffee break. ‘Hmm, Jamaca cake’,‘No, I got it from Sainsburys’. When I used to do a lot of knapsack spraying, the chant accompanying the repetitive pumping action was along the lines of, ‘Red Spider Mite, Red Spider Might, Red Spider might.’ I’m easily pleased!
If for some reason you lose your list you can now download it from the http://www.kirtonfarm.co.uk/website which should have the latest up to date version.
Eco news
The surprise job on Friday was to put together a last minute proposal for the bank to fund the turbine project. Having initially been very positive last summer, then the opposite in the autumn, they have had another change of heart at the very last minute. It might turn out to be a fortunate break for us as they are looking to run a pilot lending scheme and they need some ready-to-go projects to play with. This should mean quite attractive rates/charges etc and hopefully a very quick decision, but we still have to press enough of the right buttons to qualify. I have pressed all the buttons I can and we now await some response, hopefully some time in the next week.
Have a good week, from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries
Tuesday 1 March 2011
We are being talked about....
http://conversation.which.co.uk/energy-home/what-to-do-with-plastic-flowerpots/
http://conversation.which.co.uk/energy-home/what-to-do-with-plastic-flowerpots/
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