Morning all
Feeling very autumnal over the last couple of weeks and the panic is on to get everything potted and settled down before winter sets in. The tunnels are filling quickly and the last half load of compost is due in on Monday so the end is in sight which will be a relief. We have even lit the wood-burner at home a few evenings just to take the chill off, the trouble is it sends me off to sleep even earlier than usual.
Despite the change in season the house martins are still hanging about, hoovering up insects over the nursery and surrounding fields, but it must be very nearly time to move on, we’ve seen a few larger flocks drifting south over the last few days. I’m feeling like I would like to drift away for a bit too, just beginning to flag as the season begins to fade away and getting a bit jealous of all the others gadding off on their holidays.
Picked up a few conkers earlier, couldn’t resist, they just look so shiny and new when they first pop out. Always keeping an eye open for some really good ones, although it must be nearly fifty years since I strung one for battle! Always have a little pile just inside the door as they are supposed to deter spider ingress at this time of year, it reduces my main manly role these days of dealing with intruders.
Building up my arm strength over the last couple of weeks with making up numbers on the potting machine, wrestling apart the hairy pots to feed the continuous demand from the jaws of the machine. The thin smear of latex that holds the pot fibres together makes the pot surface quite grippy and when the pot stacks are packed so tightly they can be a bit of a challenge to get apart. It is quite important for me to look cool doing this task, to demonstrate an air of calm efficiency while maintaining maximum output, but this can be quite tricky to achieve as tiredness creeps in. Earlier in the week I had to disguise a painful industrial accident when the pots refused to separate and my halo slipped. A change in pulling direction and a really big tug resulted in dealing myself a hefty blow to a very sensitive area resulting in watery eyes and that long, deep, abdominal pain 50% of you will know about. Luckily everyone else was concentrating on their roles and didn’t notice the impact while I managed somehow to adjust my position and carry on while gathering my thoughts. My new yoga training came in very handy, a bit of deep breathing, in through my toes and out through the affected area subdued the pain, if you girls can get through delivering a baby with a bit of heavy breathing I was sure it would me help me through this. It did.
Must go, I have a date with a water buffalo burger and 6 hrs of live Blues and Funk at a local farm. Not something I’ve done before so looking forward to a new experience. Have fun.
Availability highlights
Autumn and winter flowering Cyclamen are just coming on line. 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 not enough to say they are ‘in flower’, they have just sold too fast!
The compact and free flower Anthemis Charme are now in bud. They flower for ages.Fresh batches of the ever popular Achillea coming on nicely with new flowers shoots appearing on several colours.
There are a few nice short Nepeta Six Hills in bud at the moment. The dinky little Junior Walker has shoot back after a trim to make nice bushy plants with another flower flush showing. The short Campanula carpatica is in bud again after an earlier trim. Lots of the Asters are busting a gut to get into flower, The mildew free Ashvi, and Asram, now have well developed bud and the odd open flower. We have a fantastic crop of Ajuga in range of leaf colours just bursting to get into the garden. Fresh batches of Euphorbia are looking nice in a range of foliage colours. Bright variegated leaves of the short tufted grass Carex Evergold are looking very neat and smart.
Wooden box returns
We are having a scoot around collecting up any wooden boxes you may have ready for collection over the next couple of weeks so we can get them clean, dried and repaired ready for next spring. So please do drop us a line if you would like us to pop in and collect those up. We should be doing a couple of Midland and more northern runs in the coming week if we can squeeze them in around the orders. We’ve already collected masses of them but there are a few more to come I hope. Thanks.
Have a good week from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.
Monday 25 September 2017
Monday 11 September 2017
Hairy Wind
Morning all,
What a dramatic week on the world weather front. What with Irma still bashing its way across the Caribbean and into the US and the monsoon flooding further east causing large scale destruction and chaos it’s on the personal scale that it impacts most with people’s homes and livelihoods shattered. When we get smaller scale issues piling up here it feels like the world is against you, it is so difficult to really imagine the enormous life changing upheaval such devastating disasters must have on the individuals affected. I’m counting my blessings that with all the challenges that seem to accumulate at this end we are all still willing and able to travel in a positive direction.
The modern world of instant news and communication creates for me a bit of a conflict of interest. Concern for those affected is of course there, but the fascination of being able to watch the Irma story unfold from a distance, more or less as it happens, strikes me as being akin to watching the F1 races in anticipation of there being a crash. You wouldn’t want to admit it but the spectacle of such devastating power has a real draw to it. The US is next on the hit list for Irma and the scale of exodus from Florida must be astonishingly difficult to cope with. Virtually a whole state on the move which involves millions of people is just mind blowing. On one hand, for the individuals involved I hope that it blows itself out pretty quickly and they can all return to normal in a few days, but on the other is this the sort of lesson Donald needs to see to consider if there might be something in this global warming thing. I know one event doesn’t prove anything but as a demonstration of how a change in the weather can affect change big lumps of the world perhaps we should be making a more conscious effort to do better. On a more personal note I would like to say that it’s not all down to Donald and the like, we can all do our bit.
Ok, rant over. Our swallows have left, after the usual two broods, although not as many young ones raised this year, I suspect the erratic summer weather didn’t help. There are still the odd one or two passing over the nursery and the house martins are still here so I’m still clinging onto the idea that summer is not quite yet over.
Availability highlights
The compact and free flower Anthemis Charme are now in bud. They flower for ages.Fresh batches of the ever popular Achillea coming on nicely with new flowers shoots appearing on several colours. There are a few nice short Nepeta Six Hills in bud at the moment. The dinky little Junior Walker has shoot back after a trim to make nice bushy plants with another flower flush showing. The short Campanula carpatica is in bud again after an earlier trim.
Lots of the Asters are busting a gut to get into flower, The mildew free Ashvi, Asmo, and Asram, now have well developed bud and the odd open flower. Lady in Blue, Jenny and Starlight have loads of bud developing.
We have a fantastic crop of Ajuga in range of leaf colours just bursting to get into the garden. Fresh batches of Euphorbia are looking nice in a range of foliage colours. Bright variegated leaves of the short tufted grass Carex Evergold are looking very neat and smart.
Wooden box returns
We are having a scoot around collecting up any wooden boxes you may have ready for collection over the next few weeks so we can get them clean, dried and repaired ready for next spring. So please do drop us a line if you would like us to pop in and collect those up. We’ve already collected lots but there are more to come I hope.
Thanks.
Have a good week from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.
What a dramatic week on the world weather front. What with Irma still bashing its way across the Caribbean and into the US and the monsoon flooding further east causing large scale destruction and chaos it’s on the personal scale that it impacts most with people’s homes and livelihoods shattered. When we get smaller scale issues piling up here it feels like the world is against you, it is so difficult to really imagine the enormous life changing upheaval such devastating disasters must have on the individuals affected. I’m counting my blessings that with all the challenges that seem to accumulate at this end we are all still willing and able to travel in a positive direction.
The modern world of instant news and communication creates for me a bit of a conflict of interest. Concern for those affected is of course there, but the fascination of being able to watch the Irma story unfold from a distance, more or less as it happens, strikes me as being akin to watching the F1 races in anticipation of there being a crash. You wouldn’t want to admit it but the spectacle of such devastating power has a real draw to it. The US is next on the hit list for Irma and the scale of exodus from Florida must be astonishingly difficult to cope with. Virtually a whole state on the move which involves millions of people is just mind blowing. On one hand, for the individuals involved I hope that it blows itself out pretty quickly and they can all return to normal in a few days, but on the other is this the sort of lesson Donald needs to see to consider if there might be something in this global warming thing. I know one event doesn’t prove anything but as a demonstration of how a change in the weather can affect change big lumps of the world perhaps we should be making a more conscious effort to do better. On a more personal note I would like to say that it’s not all down to Donald and the like, we can all do our bit.
Ok, rant over. Our swallows have left, after the usual two broods, although not as many young ones raised this year, I suspect the erratic summer weather didn’t help. There are still the odd one or two passing over the nursery and the house martins are still here so I’m still clinging onto the idea that summer is not quite yet over.
Availability highlights
The compact and free flower Anthemis Charme are now in bud. They flower for ages.Fresh batches of the ever popular Achillea coming on nicely with new flowers shoots appearing on several colours. There are a few nice short Nepeta Six Hills in bud at the moment. The dinky little Junior Walker has shoot back after a trim to make nice bushy plants with another flower flush showing. The short Campanula carpatica is in bud again after an earlier trim.
Lots of the Asters are busting a gut to get into flower, The mildew free Ashvi, Asmo, and Asram, now have well developed bud and the odd open flower. Lady in Blue, Jenny and Starlight have loads of bud developing.
We have a fantastic crop of Ajuga in range of leaf colours just bursting to get into the garden. Fresh batches of Euphorbia are looking nice in a range of foliage colours. Bright variegated leaves of the short tufted grass Carex Evergold are looking very neat and smart.
Wooden box returns
We are having a scoot around collecting up any wooden boxes you may have ready for collection over the next few weeks so we can get them clean, dried and repaired ready for next spring. So please do drop us a line if you would like us to pop in and collect those up. We’ve already collected lots but there are more to come I hope.
Thanks.
Have a good week from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.
Monday 4 September 2017
Hairy Shows
Morning all,
Harvest is in at last after a good run at the end of last week and a couple of good days this. Relief all round I think, just the fields to cultivate and re-sow for next year and they can all relax again! From what I gather it was a mixed bag, some crops very poor and some better than expected so if prices pick up a bit it won’t be too bad.
It’s September already, the cooler nights, shorter days and morning damp are pushing all the autumnal buttons and making me restless to get the potting done asap so that we get enough growth on the crops before winter sets in. It’s always such a rush to get it all done, getting the tunnels clear and clean, plants prepared and enough bodies on the potting machine and then suddenly it’s the weekend again. It’ll all be fine, most crops burst through all we throw at them by the spring. Just about recovered from the bank holiday weekend which was pretty full. The local village festival was very local and generally I think a good time was had by all. I managed just over 8 hours before retiring for a lie down and unfortunately I suspect we missed the best band who we could hear still playing, booming over the fields, close to midnight. We were saving ourselves for an early morning start for the following days trip to the Isle of Wight. The ferry crossing adds the ambience and excitement of an exotic holiday even if perhaps the Red Funnel cuisine doesn’t. A stunning day on the beach turned a few of us fairly rosy cheeked although I only actually got as daring as getting the socks off under my sandals, the trousers, hat and shirt stayed put, nurseryman’s torso’s aren’t something to parade in public! A delicious BBQ finished the beach trip perfectly and a great sunset over the Solent on the cruise home was spectacular. Now we are all refreshed from our summer holidays ready to roll on with renewed vigour into the autumn.
Popped into the Alresford Show earlier today to check out all things agricultural. Great weather and a thronging crowd made for a grand day out with masses of local food and drink on show as well fantastic displays of vintage and new agricultural kit. They must have had record crowds as the car-park was close to bursting and several of the food stands ran out of stock part way through. I called into the NFU stand to meet our new local advisor who recently took on the Winchester area. He might have regretted the introduction as I did have a bit of a jovial dig at them over their apparent lack of sustainable thinking, dispensing complementary drinks in disposable plastic cups and giving away their virgin paper collections of leaflets in big plastic bags. They are supposed to be advising an industry dealing with nature and green stuff, what sort of image did they think they should be portraying? Anyway it gave them something else to think about for a moment of two. After a lot of striding about trying to find each other and lashings of retail therapy we eventually came home loaded with honey, cheese, pies and something to wash it all down with. Now I just need to get home to consume it. It’s a tough life.
Availability highlights
There is a fresh batch of Erigeron karvenskianus on line again with bud showing and first flowers now opening. We have never had this as a late summer line before but last year our trial plant in the garden flowered almost till Christmas and has flowered again nonstop since about April. We don’t have many, I just wanted to try it out. The compact and free flower Anthemis Charme are now in bud. They flower for ages.
Fresh batches of the ever popular Achillea coming on nicely with new flowers shoots appearing. There are a few nice short Nepeta Six Hills in bud at the moment. The dinky little Junior Walker has shoot back after a trim to make nice bushy plants with another flower flush showing.
The short Campanula carpatica is in bud again after an earlier trim. Lots of the Asters are busting a gut to get into bud, The mildew free Ashvi, Asmo, Asram, Starshine and Eleven Purple now have well developed bud and the odd open flower. Lady in Blue, Jenny and Starlight have loads of bud developing. We have a fantastic crop of Ajuga in range of leaf colours just bursting to get into the garden. Fresh batches of Euphorbia are looking nice in a range of foliage colours
Bright variegated leaves of the short tufted grass Carex Evergold are looking very neat and smart. Still a few of the compact Coreopsis Illico in bud, the odd bright yellow flower showing too.
Wooden box returns
We are having a scoot around collecting up any wooden boxes you may have ready for collection over the next few weeks so we can get them clean, dried and repaired ready for next spring. So please do drop us a line if you would like us to pop in and collect those up.
Thanks, have a good week from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.
Harvest is in at last after a good run at the end of last week and a couple of good days this. Relief all round I think, just the fields to cultivate and re-sow for next year and they can all relax again! From what I gather it was a mixed bag, some crops very poor and some better than expected so if prices pick up a bit it won’t be too bad.
It’s September already, the cooler nights, shorter days and morning damp are pushing all the autumnal buttons and making me restless to get the potting done asap so that we get enough growth on the crops before winter sets in. It’s always such a rush to get it all done, getting the tunnels clear and clean, plants prepared and enough bodies on the potting machine and then suddenly it’s the weekend again. It’ll all be fine, most crops burst through all we throw at them by the spring. Just about recovered from the bank holiday weekend which was pretty full. The local village festival was very local and generally I think a good time was had by all. I managed just over 8 hours before retiring for a lie down and unfortunately I suspect we missed the best band who we could hear still playing, booming over the fields, close to midnight. We were saving ourselves for an early morning start for the following days trip to the Isle of Wight. The ferry crossing adds the ambience and excitement of an exotic holiday even if perhaps the Red Funnel cuisine doesn’t. A stunning day on the beach turned a few of us fairly rosy cheeked although I only actually got as daring as getting the socks off under my sandals, the trousers, hat and shirt stayed put, nurseryman’s torso’s aren’t something to parade in public! A delicious BBQ finished the beach trip perfectly and a great sunset over the Solent on the cruise home was spectacular. Now we are all refreshed from our summer holidays ready to roll on with renewed vigour into the autumn.
Popped into the Alresford Show earlier today to check out all things agricultural. Great weather and a thronging crowd made for a grand day out with masses of local food and drink on show as well fantastic displays of vintage and new agricultural kit. They must have had record crowds as the car-park was close to bursting and several of the food stands ran out of stock part way through. I called into the NFU stand to meet our new local advisor who recently took on the Winchester area. He might have regretted the introduction as I did have a bit of a jovial dig at them over their apparent lack of sustainable thinking, dispensing complementary drinks in disposable plastic cups and giving away their virgin paper collections of leaflets in big plastic bags. They are supposed to be advising an industry dealing with nature and green stuff, what sort of image did they think they should be portraying? Anyway it gave them something else to think about for a moment of two. After a lot of striding about trying to find each other and lashings of retail therapy we eventually came home loaded with honey, cheese, pies and something to wash it all down with. Now I just need to get home to consume it. It’s a tough life.
Availability highlights
There is a fresh batch of Erigeron karvenskianus on line again with bud showing and first flowers now opening. We have never had this as a late summer line before but last year our trial plant in the garden flowered almost till Christmas and has flowered again nonstop since about April. We don’t have many, I just wanted to try it out. The compact and free flower Anthemis Charme are now in bud. They flower for ages.
Fresh batches of the ever popular Achillea coming on nicely with new flowers shoots appearing. There are a few nice short Nepeta Six Hills in bud at the moment. The dinky little Junior Walker has shoot back after a trim to make nice bushy plants with another flower flush showing.
The short Campanula carpatica is in bud again after an earlier trim. Lots of the Asters are busting a gut to get into bud, The mildew free Ashvi, Asmo, Asram, Starshine and Eleven Purple now have well developed bud and the odd open flower. Lady in Blue, Jenny and Starlight have loads of bud developing. We have a fantastic crop of Ajuga in range of leaf colours just bursting to get into the garden. Fresh batches of Euphorbia are looking nice in a range of foliage colours
Bright variegated leaves of the short tufted grass Carex Evergold are looking very neat and smart. Still a few of the compact Coreopsis Illico in bud, the odd bright yellow flower showing too.
Wooden box returns
We are having a scoot around collecting up any wooden boxes you may have ready for collection over the next few weeks so we can get them clean, dried and repaired ready for next spring. So please do drop us a line if you would like us to pop in and collect those up.
Thanks, have a good week from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.
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