Morning all,
After a mild week it has turned a bit wintery with a bitter northerly wind today. Luckily for us it shouldn’t dent sales too much as we tend to go very quiet over these late weeks. We often earn more from the turbines at this time than from plant sales. The winter months are the peak wind speed times, on average, although this month will be quite a bit less than normal October was good so I am not complaining.
We are getting well stuck into the winter jobs list with pot mulching nearly complete and several new drains dug, laid and dressed. Unfortunately we can’t get a digger in the gaps so there is a lot of physical effort in the hand digging of the drains between the tunnels and I reckon it will take a few winters to finish but all the benefits will be there eventually. We are concentrating first on those sites that flood worst during the heavier rain storms, as the water sheds from the upper tunnels into the lower ones. They will keep the tunnels drier and cleaner, reducing potential winter losses and bed cleaning between crops and give us an opportunity to collect some more water. The ground cover materials used to line and hold down the drainage pipe should also eliminate weed growth between the tunnels and reduce the herbicide used and weed spread onto the crops. Having completed a couple of the worst offenders we are almost looking forward to the next downpour just to see them work, there is just a smidgen of apprehension that all our levels are right and that it all runs away. We’ll see.
Last week I promised to reveal some exciting geological/archaeological revelations as discovered on our Cornish holiday. This was something that brewed over a couple of days after walks that included investigation and discussion on the significance of the amount of quartz found on many sites from prehistory onwards. Having seen a quartz rock placed under a very large propped boulder (believed to be Neolithic) it was mooted that perhaps there was something we were missing in the significance of quartz, does it has some special properties? We knew vaguely about the use of quartz in electrical items (watches etc) and there was some speculation from our very clever tame archaeologist that it may produce light when put under pressure. We collected a few lumps of quartz pebble from the beach and returned to base to await darkness to try out a few tests. After we returned from a very jolly evening out we despatched Brian into the garden with two big lumps of quartz and turned off all the lights. After waiting a while, until our eyes became adjusted to the dark, he started bashing one against the other and sure enough we saw flashes of light, not sparks really, more of a brief glow. Unfortunately it was not the greatest of shows as the main effect of impact was a shattering of the rocks with bits flying off all over the place. We recalled our demonstrator into the house for further investigation. By now Wikipedia was in full use and we discovered the ‘little known property’ of triboluminescence which is a property that quartz has (as well as some other crystals like sugar and diamonds). Luminescence obviously meaning light but the tribo means rubbing. So we tried that next and sure enough a vigorous rub produced a lovely warm glow in the surface of the quartz stone. The more translucent the stone the better the effect. It is quite different from flint sparking and doesn’t seem to be a particularly hot light, just very pleasing. In a time when light in the dark would have been quiet special this must have been pretty impressive. It certainly got us excited even in these days of mega entertainment on tap. Try it if you can there is something slightly wonderful about it and it kept a gaggle of old farts in Cornwall happy for hours!
Winter delivery minimum orders
For the rest of the year and until sometime in February we are able to drop the minimum order quantity generally to 15 trays and possibly, at a push, to 12 trays if you are very local to Winchester. The range available will obviously slip away as most lines go into dormancy but we have a few lines to provide a bit of winter interest and colour, should you be looking for some hairy input.
Availability highlights
Autumn and winter flowering Cyclamen are looking great. The Cyclamen coum Cyberia series flower from now until April, showing short and dainty flowers and bud. There are still plenty of flowers on the remaining autumn/winter flowering hederifolium types. The Helleborus range is ready to roll as winter approaches, no bud yet but nice plants. The Euphorbias are looking good as well, they will retain a good show of foliage through the winter months before bursting into flower in early spring. Another evergreen spring flowerer currently looking smart are the Bergenias in three varieties. Bright variegated leaves of the short tufted grass Carex Evergold are looking very neat and smart.
Wooden box returns
We have collected the majority of our wooden boxes up now but please do drop us a line if you would like us to pop in and collect any more up. We aren’t about quite as much now but you will be in our thoughts and on the list. Thanks.
Have a good week from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.
Sunday 26 November 2017
Monday 20 November 2017
Happy Hairy Days
Morning all,
Right that’s got the annual break out of the way and its back down to all the exciting winter nursery jobs. I can’t quite get my head around all the things to do just yet, still trying to recover from the jet lag effect of two weeks in sunny St Ives. I know I’ve got to finalise the production plans for the coming spring and adjust the catalogue and plant lists accordingly so you should all be receiving updates on those in two or three weeks. Then there are all the site maintenance and improvements to get stuck into, mostly to do with digging and installing drains for more water movement and collection which is lots of work but luckily not too much expense on materials. Just one little LED lighting project for this year, the micro-propagation weaning tunnel has had to expand to cope with demand so new lights are being installed to extend the season more into the winter period. Unfortunately they are so expensive that we can only afford to put them in the new extended area at the moment rather than replace the older HP sodium lights in the rest of the tunnel. We have slightly shot ourselves in the foot on lighting energy saving, which in many situations can have an extremely quick payback time if you have expensive electricity and use the lights a lot. We are using mostly cheap night time energy or generating our own cheap wind turbine energy and the lights aren’t use for very long during the year. This all culminates in a rather long payback period when a single 120cm long specialist LED grow-light costs £300 plus fitting.
We had a fantastic break, lots of friends came down to stay and a good time was had by all, We never tire of the view over Porthmeor beach out of the window, it endlessly changes and there is always something going on. By the end of two weeks the elasticated waistband was fully deployed after some fantastic feeding stops. I can particularly recommend Porthmeor Beach Cafe, Porthminster Cafe (take out a new mortgage), Porthgwidden Beach Cafe and two spectacular Sunday lunchtime visits to The Victoria Inn at Perranuthnoe (near Marazion). I get a bit anxious that we might start getting a bit bored of visiting the same place but every year it always delivers. Good spots for this year were Woodcock, Turtle Dove, Black Swan (escapee), Great Northern Diver and some spectacular wader displays on Hayle Estuary. Our tame archaeologist Brian had done loads of research and came up with a brilliant walk (among others) through the entire history of the area from the early Neolithic to the Victorians. We went up to the summit of Carn Galver to visit a Neolithic Tor enclosure with mega views and a propped stone (a very large rock manually perched on a small rock from a similar period). Then we headed back towards the coast path through 3 different sites and periods of tin mining activity and a history of farming and social development from bronze age banks, walls and roundhouses, to iron age field boundary developments and a cliff top fort. We also squeezed in a very nice Romano-British courtyard settlement along the way and some spectacular cliff top walking. Just to top it all we shoehorned a stop at the Tinners for lunch too.
We even did a bit of geological experimentation too, which kept us entertained during the dark hours between tea and dinner. It was something to do with the effect of rubbing two stones together but you will have to wait ‘till next week for that tale to unfold. Ok I know it’s not most exciting sounding break in the world but it had everything that we were after, happy days.
Winter delivery minimum orders
For the rest of the autumn and until sometime in February we are able to drop the minimum order quantity generally to 15 trays and possibly, at a push, to 12 trays if you are very local to Winchester. The range available will obviously slip away as most lines go into dormancy but we have a few lines to provide a bit of winter interest and colour, should you be looking for some hairy input.
Availability highlights
Autumn and winter flowering Cyclamen are looking good. The Cyclamen coum Cyberia series flower from now until April, showing short and dainty flowers and bud. I can see some bud still coming on the remaining autumn flowering hederifolium types but too. The Helleborus range is gradually increasing as winter approaches, no bud yet but nice plants. Another evergreen spring flowerer currently looking smart are the Bergenias. We have a few very nice bushy Erysimum Bowles Mauve budding nicely and showing a little colour. We have a lovely crop of Ajuga in a range of leaf colours just bursting to get into the garden.
Bright variegated leaves of the short tufted grass Carex Evergold are looking very neat and smart.
Wooden box returns
We have collected the majority of our wooden boxes up now but please do drop us a line if you would like us to pop in and collect any more up. We aren’t about quite as much now but you will be in our thoughts and on the list. Thanks.
Have a good week from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.
Right that’s got the annual break out of the way and its back down to all the exciting winter nursery jobs. I can’t quite get my head around all the things to do just yet, still trying to recover from the jet lag effect of two weeks in sunny St Ives. I know I’ve got to finalise the production plans for the coming spring and adjust the catalogue and plant lists accordingly so you should all be receiving updates on those in two or three weeks. Then there are all the site maintenance and improvements to get stuck into, mostly to do with digging and installing drains for more water movement and collection which is lots of work but luckily not too much expense on materials. Just one little LED lighting project for this year, the micro-propagation weaning tunnel has had to expand to cope with demand so new lights are being installed to extend the season more into the winter period. Unfortunately they are so expensive that we can only afford to put them in the new extended area at the moment rather than replace the older HP sodium lights in the rest of the tunnel. We have slightly shot ourselves in the foot on lighting energy saving, which in many situations can have an extremely quick payback time if you have expensive electricity and use the lights a lot. We are using mostly cheap night time energy or generating our own cheap wind turbine energy and the lights aren’t use for very long during the year. This all culminates in a rather long payback period when a single 120cm long specialist LED grow-light costs £300 plus fitting.
We had a fantastic break, lots of friends came down to stay and a good time was had by all, We never tire of the view over Porthmeor beach out of the window, it endlessly changes and there is always something going on. By the end of two weeks the elasticated waistband was fully deployed after some fantastic feeding stops. I can particularly recommend Porthmeor Beach Cafe, Porthminster Cafe (take out a new mortgage), Porthgwidden Beach Cafe and two spectacular Sunday lunchtime visits to The Victoria Inn at Perranuthnoe (near Marazion). I get a bit anxious that we might start getting a bit bored of visiting the same place but every year it always delivers. Good spots for this year were Woodcock, Turtle Dove, Black Swan (escapee), Great Northern Diver and some spectacular wader displays on Hayle Estuary. Our tame archaeologist Brian had done loads of research and came up with a brilliant walk (among others) through the entire history of the area from the early Neolithic to the Victorians. We went up to the summit of Carn Galver to visit a Neolithic Tor enclosure with mega views and a propped stone (a very large rock manually perched on a small rock from a similar period). Then we headed back towards the coast path through 3 different sites and periods of tin mining activity and a history of farming and social development from bronze age banks, walls and roundhouses, to iron age field boundary developments and a cliff top fort. We also squeezed in a very nice Romano-British courtyard settlement along the way and some spectacular cliff top walking. Just to top it all we shoehorned a stop at the Tinners for lunch too.
We even did a bit of geological experimentation too, which kept us entertained during the dark hours between tea and dinner. It was something to do with the effect of rubbing two stones together but you will have to wait ‘till next week for that tale to unfold. Ok I know it’s not most exciting sounding break in the world but it had everything that we were after, happy days.
Winter delivery minimum orders
For the rest of the autumn and until sometime in February we are able to drop the minimum order quantity generally to 15 trays and possibly, at a push, to 12 trays if you are very local to Winchester. The range available will obviously slip away as most lines go into dormancy but we have a few lines to provide a bit of winter interest and colour, should you be looking for some hairy input.
Availability highlights
Autumn and winter flowering Cyclamen are looking good. The Cyclamen coum Cyberia series flower from now until April, showing short and dainty flowers and bud. I can see some bud still coming on the remaining autumn flowering hederifolium types but too. The Helleborus range is gradually increasing as winter approaches, no bud yet but nice plants. Another evergreen spring flowerer currently looking smart are the Bergenias. We have a few very nice bushy Erysimum Bowles Mauve budding nicely and showing a little colour. We have a lovely crop of Ajuga in a range of leaf colours just bursting to get into the garden.
Bright variegated leaves of the short tufted grass Carex Evergold are looking very neat and smart.
Wooden box returns
We have collected the majority of our wooden boxes up now but please do drop us a line if you would like us to pop in and collect any more up. We aren’t about quite as much now but you will be in our thoughts and on the list. Thanks.
Have a good week from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.
Tuesday 7 November 2017
Snug and Hairy
Morning all,
Damp and autumnal here, the sun is desperately trying to shift the fog and in an hour or two it might just do it. Glad to have the spaced and refitted grow-lights on in the weaning tunnel where all those baby plants from the lab have come out to try and romp away in some rather cool damp weather. That extra bit of help does seem to con them into thinking a late summer is still hanging around and growth responses are looking good. Glad we only have a small area for this type of input as it does make the meter turn! Good job the wind turbines are more active at this time of year.
The log burner is now well warmed up, chimney swept and toasty evenings dozing off in the glow are becoming the norm. A great time of year for looking for any cosying up opportunities. A lovely touch of luxury was added here a couple of weeks ago with the retirement of our ancient set of bath towels. I suspect they were a wedding present (1984, married at just 14!) they have certainly been around a while reaching that stage of life when they felt a bit like sandpaper and rub off the water rather than soaking it off. The replacements are amazingly thick, soft and absorbent, pure joy to use, I only need to walk close by and all moisture wicks away. Mind you they worked out a bit expensive as they broke the washing machine on their first visit. To be fair it had been complaining about its work-load for ages and the mending man had written it off last time saying that the time was approaching for a new one. Anyway the new one is super efficient, doing some washes with unheated water and adding its own air bubbles to help things along, the wonders of modern technology (or creative marketing).
New drainage pipe has arrived, time to get on a dig some ditches. Nice to get stuck into some winter site improvements again. Just wait ‘till next year the nursery is going to be so productive and efficient we’ll be millionaires. If only.
Winter delivery minimum orders
Ok I know it’s not quite winter yet, but for the rest of the autumn and until sometime in February we are able to drop the minimum order quantity generally to 15 trays and possibly, at a push, to 12 trays if you are very local to Winchester. The range available will obviously slip away as most lines go into dormancy but we have a few lines to provide a bit of winter interest and colour, should you be looking for some hairy input.
Availability highlights
Autumn and winter flowering Cyclamen are looking good. The Cyclamen coum Cyberia series flower from now until April, showing short and dainty flowers and bud. I can see some bud still coming on the remaining autumn flowering hederifolium types but too. The Helleborus range is gradually increasing as winter approaches, no bud yet but nice plants. Another evergreen spring flowerer currently looking smart are the Bergenias. The Erodium Bishops Form is making the most of the late warmth and flowering nicely.
We have a few very nice bushy Erysimum Bowles Mauve budding nicely and showing a little colour. We have a lovely crop of Ajuga in a range of leaf colours just bursting to get into the garden. Tiarella are having a last minute flush of foamy flowers. Bright variegated leaves of the short tufted grass Carex Evergold are looking very neat and smart.
Wooden box returns
We have collected the majority of our wooden boxes up now but please do drop us a line if you would like us to pop in and collect any more up. We aren’t about quite as much now but you will be in our thoughts and on the list. Thanks.
Have a good week from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.
Damp and autumnal here, the sun is desperately trying to shift the fog and in an hour or two it might just do it. Glad to have the spaced and refitted grow-lights on in the weaning tunnel where all those baby plants from the lab have come out to try and romp away in some rather cool damp weather. That extra bit of help does seem to con them into thinking a late summer is still hanging around and growth responses are looking good. Glad we only have a small area for this type of input as it does make the meter turn! Good job the wind turbines are more active at this time of year.
The log burner is now well warmed up, chimney swept and toasty evenings dozing off in the glow are becoming the norm. A great time of year for looking for any cosying up opportunities. A lovely touch of luxury was added here a couple of weeks ago with the retirement of our ancient set of bath towels. I suspect they were a wedding present (1984, married at just 14!) they have certainly been around a while reaching that stage of life when they felt a bit like sandpaper and rub off the water rather than soaking it off. The replacements are amazingly thick, soft and absorbent, pure joy to use, I only need to walk close by and all moisture wicks away. Mind you they worked out a bit expensive as they broke the washing machine on their first visit. To be fair it had been complaining about its work-load for ages and the mending man had written it off last time saying that the time was approaching for a new one. Anyway the new one is super efficient, doing some washes with unheated water and adding its own air bubbles to help things along, the wonders of modern technology (or creative marketing).
New drainage pipe has arrived, time to get on a dig some ditches. Nice to get stuck into some winter site improvements again. Just wait ‘till next year the nursery is going to be so productive and efficient we’ll be millionaires. If only.
Winter delivery minimum orders
Ok I know it’s not quite winter yet, but for the rest of the autumn and until sometime in February we are able to drop the minimum order quantity generally to 15 trays and possibly, at a push, to 12 trays if you are very local to Winchester. The range available will obviously slip away as most lines go into dormancy but we have a few lines to provide a bit of winter interest and colour, should you be looking for some hairy input.
Availability highlights
Autumn and winter flowering Cyclamen are looking good. The Cyclamen coum Cyberia series flower from now until April, showing short and dainty flowers and bud. I can see some bud still coming on the remaining autumn flowering hederifolium types but too. The Helleborus range is gradually increasing as winter approaches, no bud yet but nice plants. Another evergreen spring flowerer currently looking smart are the Bergenias. The Erodium Bishops Form is making the most of the late warmth and flowering nicely.
We have a few very nice bushy Erysimum Bowles Mauve budding nicely and showing a little colour. We have a lovely crop of Ajuga in a range of leaf colours just bursting to get into the garden. Tiarella are having a last minute flush of foamy flowers. Bright variegated leaves of the short tufted grass Carex Evergold are looking very neat and smart.
Wooden box returns
We have collected the majority of our wooden boxes up now but please do drop us a line if you would like us to pop in and collect any more up. We aren’t about quite as much now but you will be in our thoughts and on the list. Thanks.
Have a good week from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.
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