Morning all,
Brace yourselves for the winter blast. Hopefully just a few days, but it looks like next week is going to be a really nippy one, feeling especially cold with the easterly winds. The plants are generally tough enough to cope with this but will be looking a bit sorry for themselves while in their frozen state and are more susceptible to drying out in a cold wind. Please don’t be tempted to warm up frozen stock too quickly, it is usually much better to just let nature take its course in the thawing process. Protection from the worst of the breeze will help maintain foliage quality in the short term and perhaps holding off on any planned plant delivery might be sensible until the worst is over. There is talk of widespread snow so deliveries may be tricky anyway and we may have issues getting the stock picked up and processed so we will play things by ear and see how it all pans out.
Perhaps not the ideal weather for prompting the start of some valuable cash-flow, but it is still winter and a good cold snap will help knock out a few overwintering pests and perhaps springboard us all into selling more plants when it breaks. I’m feeling a bit sorry for the nursery frog population which choose this past week as spawning time. We had well in excess of 35 frenzied amphibians busy doing their thing in one small pond, leaving behind a moderate amount of spawn. I am guessing we have an excess of males for some reason, as the effort being put in way exceeded the anticipated output. Good job that principle only applies to frogs. The pond is now completely frozen over and we wait to see the consequences of that.
We are having a freshen up of our POS boards this spring, summarizing the hairy pot story and benefits and you should all receive versions of these shortly, as soon as they are ready and we send you out an order. The old card inserts are nearly all gone and plans to replace them with new versions professionally printed on sustainable materials sadly came to nothing with very short shelf lives and high costs. It was back to the drawing board for a fresh approach so we are now going to attempt silk screen printing them onto FSC sourced plywood. They will still fit inside our wooden boxes which will again act as a frame and (due to a minor admin error) there will now also be an option for a small scale version of the boards (half size) for additional site decoration if needed. We will also print the small A5 ‘latex allergy notice’ signs onto ply to replace the plastic ones we previously used. It should all look very coordinated when finished and be more sustainable and practical to use. Well that’s the plan. As of last week we have the cut up boards, silk screens (including the right sized ones, now I have provided the right dimensions!), frame clamps, printing table and the ink. Now I just need the skills to print them and judging by tests so far I am currently the missing link to success. Wish me luck.
Winter delivery minimum orders
The winter ‘smaller minimum order’ offer we have been running has now reverted back to our standard minimum order of 21 trays. I know winter is still wagging its tail but I don’t particularly want to encourage anyone into ordering a few trays this week just to use up the lower rate offer, considering the freezing weather forecast. Unfortunately with sales volumes overall picking up now, we can’t keep it running too long.
Availability highlights
Despite the winter weather the Erysimum are looking great. All the green leaved varieties are in tight bud already, leaving the two variegated forms slightly behind on the budding front but looking flashy in their fancy foliage. Really attractive finely cut bronzed foliage of Polemonium Heaven Scent looking fab. The odd bud in sight already, many more will appear very shortly.
More of the Pulmonaria are showing bud now, with little splash of colour in the Blue Ensign, a stunning dark blue, the others aren’t far behind with their nice tight variegated/silvered foliage showing nicely.
Euphorbias are looking good, retaining attractive foliage through the winter months before bursting into flower in early spring. There are two Lamium varieties flushing into a bright early show with their fresh silvery foliage. Some of the spring bulbs are making a break for it, the Alliums are well up (3/pot). Others putting on a spurt are Scilla, Camassia, Tulip, Muscari, Fritillaria and Ipheion. I haven’t marked the Fritillaria as being in bud yet but there are a few about. Spring is bursting despite the cool temperatures and our Lupins have all made delicious vigorous shoot growth from around the plant base. They seem to do so well as an overwintered crop, producing plenty of new chunky basal shoots with the potential for so much flower later in the season. We do need to sell these fairly early in the spring so that they don’t get too big for our pots, although the early cool weather should help to stop them running away on us.
The Digitalis and Delphiniums are looking strong and chunky too, along with a few staff members who have been following through their resolutions by dieting and working out.
Wooden box returns
We have collected the majority of our wooden boxes up now from last season, but please do drop us a line if you would like us to pop in and collect any more up. We may be a while getting there but you will be in our thoughts and on the list.
Thanks. Have a good week from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.
Sunday 25 February 2018
Sunday 18 February 2018
Hairy Sandwiches
Morning all,
Spring is approaching fast and the plants are coming out of their winter slumber and looking pretty perky.I have started collecting a few not so nice invoices for those vital supplies to get the season going, we can’t sell anything without labels, pots, compost and employing the crew to get the orders processed and delivered, so needs must. Just that tricky spell to negotiate as the overdraft peaks before the early sales payments clear, all a bit tense, but we’ll get there, it’s the same most years.
Seeing the sun out certainly helps our spring bounce even if it is a bit nippy, and after a couple of days this week of miserable cold wind and rain it’s a joy to see a bit more bright settled weather this weekend.
Managed to slip away from the nursery on Thursday to visit RHS Wisley for this winters meeting of the exciting AHDB Perennials Technical Discussion Group. The gardens were looking good, very tidy with lovely Hellebores doing their thing and the crocuses putting on a show. It was also heaving with mums and their kids making the most of their half term break, which was great to see. We were catered for brilliantly by the gardens, they have obviously got their sustainable catering very nicely sorted, delicious sandwiches and extras, all using reusable crockery, cutlery and mugs, ethically sourced and sustainable ingredients, coffees and teas, and nicely grey recycled paper napkins. Also nothing individually wrapped in plastic as far as I could see. Someone has put some serious thought and effort into that and it certainly worked for me. We are really proud to say we supply the plant centre there with a range of our hairy pot herbs through the season, which seem to do well, I do wonder if the perennial range would fit well too? I could ask them but that I feel that would be rather pushy of me.
The content of the sandwiches may have been the highlight, but the meeting was useful too, I got a nice refresher on Lean production methods and picked up on some fine tuning I can do on our in-house paperwork to make it more user friendly, efficient and practical for everyone. Sessions on apprentices, Brexit, robotics in horticulture, pesticide updates and fertiliser release rate profiles, added a few valuable little nuggets to my limited capacity for knowledge, and a good dollop to finding a cure for my insomnia. Overall a pretty good day out, apart possibly from the trap I fell into when I offered to be the nursery visit option for the summer meeting. Nothing like showing round a load of people who know what they are talking about, the worry being that I might get found out! It’s a predicament I face every day, but I’ve got away with it so far.
Winter delivery minimum orders
Until mid February (last week for this offer) 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.
Availability highlights
Despite the winter weather the Erysimum are looking great. All the green leaved varieties are in tight bud already, leaving the two variegated forms slightly behind on the budding front but looking flashy in their fancy foliage. Really attractive finely cut bronzed foliage of Polemonium Heaven Scent looking fab. The odd bud in sight already, many more will appear very shortly.
More of the Pulmonaria are showing bud now, with little splash of colour in the Blue Ensign, a stunning dark blue, the others aren’t far behind with their nice tight variegated/silvered foliage showing nicely.
Euphorbias are looking good, retaining attractive foliage through the winter months before bursting into flower in early spring. Another evergreen early spring flowerer currently looking smart are the Bergenias in two white varieties. There are two Lamium varieties flushing into a bright early show with their fresh silvery foliage.
Some of the spring bulbs are making a break for it, the Alliums are well up (3/pot). Others putting on a spurt are Scilla, Camassia, Tulip, Muscari, Fritillaria and Ipheion. I haven’t marked the Fritillaria as being in bud yet but there are a few about. Spring is bursting despite the cool temperatures and our Lupins have all made delicious vigorous shoot growth from around the plant base. They seem to do so well as an overwintered crop, producing plenty of new chunky basal shoots with the potential for so much flower later in the season. We do need to sell these fairly early in the spring so that they don’t get too big for our pots, although the early cool weather should help to stop them running away on us.
Wooden box returns
We have collected the majority of our wooden boxes up now from last season, but please do drop us a line if you would like us to pop in and collect any more up. We aren’t up and about too much at the moment, but you will be in our thoughts and on the list. Thanks.
Have a good week from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.
Spring is approaching fast and the plants are coming out of their winter slumber and looking pretty perky.I have started collecting a few not so nice invoices for those vital supplies to get the season going, we can’t sell anything without labels, pots, compost and employing the crew to get the orders processed and delivered, so needs must. Just that tricky spell to negotiate as the overdraft peaks before the early sales payments clear, all a bit tense, but we’ll get there, it’s the same most years.
Seeing the sun out certainly helps our spring bounce even if it is a bit nippy, and after a couple of days this week of miserable cold wind and rain it’s a joy to see a bit more bright settled weather this weekend.
Managed to slip away from the nursery on Thursday to visit RHS Wisley for this winters meeting of the exciting AHDB Perennials Technical Discussion Group. The gardens were looking good, very tidy with lovely Hellebores doing their thing and the crocuses putting on a show. It was also heaving with mums and their kids making the most of their half term break, which was great to see. We were catered for brilliantly by the gardens, they have obviously got their sustainable catering very nicely sorted, delicious sandwiches and extras, all using reusable crockery, cutlery and mugs, ethically sourced and sustainable ingredients, coffees and teas, and nicely grey recycled paper napkins. Also nothing individually wrapped in plastic as far as I could see. Someone has put some serious thought and effort into that and it certainly worked for me. We are really proud to say we supply the plant centre there with a range of our hairy pot herbs through the season, which seem to do well, I do wonder if the perennial range would fit well too? I could ask them but that I feel that would be rather pushy of me.
The content of the sandwiches may have been the highlight, but the meeting was useful too, I got a nice refresher on Lean production methods and picked up on some fine tuning I can do on our in-house paperwork to make it more user friendly, efficient and practical for everyone. Sessions on apprentices, Brexit, robotics in horticulture, pesticide updates and fertiliser release rate profiles, added a few valuable little nuggets to my limited capacity for knowledge, and a good dollop to finding a cure for my insomnia. Overall a pretty good day out, apart possibly from the trap I fell into when I offered to be the nursery visit option for the summer meeting. Nothing like showing round a load of people who know what they are talking about, the worry being that I might get found out! It’s a predicament I face every day, but I’ve got away with it so far.
Winter delivery minimum orders
Until mid February (last week for this offer) 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.
Availability highlights
Despite the winter weather the Erysimum are looking great. All the green leaved varieties are in tight bud already, leaving the two variegated forms slightly behind on the budding front but looking flashy in their fancy foliage. Really attractive finely cut bronzed foliage of Polemonium Heaven Scent looking fab. The odd bud in sight already, many more will appear very shortly.
More of the Pulmonaria are showing bud now, with little splash of colour in the Blue Ensign, a stunning dark blue, the others aren’t far behind with their nice tight variegated/silvered foliage showing nicely.
Euphorbias are looking good, retaining attractive foliage through the winter months before bursting into flower in early spring. Another evergreen early spring flowerer currently looking smart are the Bergenias in two white varieties. There are two Lamium varieties flushing into a bright early show with their fresh silvery foliage.
Some of the spring bulbs are making a break for it, the Alliums are well up (3/pot). Others putting on a spurt are Scilla, Camassia, Tulip, Muscari, Fritillaria and Ipheion. I haven’t marked the Fritillaria as being in bud yet but there are a few about. Spring is bursting despite the cool temperatures and our Lupins have all made delicious vigorous shoot growth from around the plant base. They seem to do so well as an overwintered crop, producing plenty of new chunky basal shoots with the potential for so much flower later in the season. We do need to sell these fairly early in the spring so that they don’t get too big for our pots, although the early cool weather should help to stop them running away on us.
Wooden box returns
We have collected the majority of our wooden boxes up now from last season, but please do drop us a line if you would like us to pop in and collect any more up. We aren’t up and about too much at the moment, but you will be in our thoughts and on the list. Thanks.
Have a good week from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.
Monday 12 February 2018
Hairy bristles
Morning all,
Not quite perfect spring weather yet but we had some delightful sunny days last week, if a bit nippy, happy days. Between sending out quite a few orders this week we got stuck into a few winter chores this week. Some jobs that had been hanging around for years rather than months. The tool/machinery shed had gradually sunk into total disarray, the more disorganised things got the quicker things deteriorated, to the point where we struggled to get in and out ourselves let alone park up and charge the electric buggies. We have been waiting for the perfect day to get it done, dry, still, not too frozen and free from too many distractions. Wednesday turned out to be that day and we hit it hard, 4 of us cleared it all out into the yard, sorted out what we were going to keep, rearrange, reuse, recycle and chuck. It took all day but the results were impressive, not only is the shed looking super clean and apparently nearly empty, but the buggies got serviced and 40 new bug houses (now hung up in the tunnels) got made from bundles of old canes and cut up waste plastic pipes, All very satisfying. While we were on a roll we cleared the potting tunnel, serviced the machine and cut up all the waste wood built up in despatch from the wooden box repairs. Nearly ready for the spring mayhem. Just need to print another 100,000 labels and we’re done!
Another part of the spring readiness campaign is refreshing some of the hand tools around the site. Brushes, dustpans etc all fall into disrepair after a while and need replacing to keep production efficient. This time round we have taken to heart the anti- plastic mood of the moment and replaced most of the worn out plastic kit with wooden handled, naturally bristled and metal stuff. It wasn’t quite as cheap as the plastic alternatives but not too bad. Hoping the extra feel good factor will create even more positive vibes than usual. We live in hope.
Finalised the pest predator introduction programme this week. Slightly scary the amount of introductions to go in over the year with a 3 weekly cycle of releases of multiple bugs. It’s a lot of money to just let go, but to be fair they do drastically reduce any spraying we might have to do in spots where the predators can’t keep up. We have extended the season of releases, adjusted the mix a bit, trying out a few extra different bugs to increase the range of pests controlled. Fingers crossed they don’t fly away.
Winter delivery minimum orders
Until mid February (last week for this offer) 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.
Availability highlights
Despite the winter weather the Erysimum are looking great. All the green leaved varieties are in tight bud already, leaving the two variegated forms slightly behind on the budding front. Attractive finely cut bronzed foliage of Polemonium Heaven Scent looking fab. The odd bud in sight already, many more will appear very shortly. More of the Pulmonaria are showing bud now, with little splash of colour in the Blue Ensign, a stunning dark blue, the others aren’t far behind with their nice tight variegated/silvered foliage showing nicely.
Euphorbias are looking good, retaining attractive foliage through the winter months before bursting into flower in early spring. Another evergreen early spring flowerer currently looking smart are the Bergenias in two white varieties.
There are two Lamium varieties flushing into a bright early show with their fresh silvery foliage. Some of the spring bulbs are making a break for it, the Alliums are well up (3/pot). Others putting on a spurt are Scilla, Camassia, Tulip, Muscari, Fritillaria and Ipheion. I haven’t marked the Fritillaria as being in bud yet but there are a few about. Primula veris are budding up well as they emerge. We changed suppliers this year to get a more true wild veris strain, after last year’s slightly disappointing over selected bright yellow ones. Live and learn.We have grown a batch of Primula Wanda this year which we haven’t grown for ages, an old, traditional and tough variety with early purple/red flowers produced year after year. They are mostly showing buds and a bit of colour already, on stocky strong plants, although I am hesitant to send them out just yet as I would quite like to see just how big they are going to get! Maybe best if they did this with you and your customers rather than satisfying my curiosity!
Spring is bursting despite the cool temperatures and our Lupins have all made delicious vigorous shoot growth from around the plant base. They seem to do so well as an overwintered crop, producing so many new chunky basal shoots with the potential for so much flower later in the season. We do need to sell these fairly early so that they don’t get too big for our pots, although the early cool weather should help to stop them running away on us.
Wooden box returns
We have collected the majority of our wooden boxes up now from last season, but please do drop us a line if you would like us to pop in and collect any more up. We aren’t up and about too much at the moment, but you will be in our thoughts and on the list. Thanks.
Have a good week from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.
Not quite perfect spring weather yet but we had some delightful sunny days last week, if a bit nippy, happy days. Between sending out quite a few orders this week we got stuck into a few winter chores this week. Some jobs that had been hanging around for years rather than months. The tool/machinery shed had gradually sunk into total disarray, the more disorganised things got the quicker things deteriorated, to the point where we struggled to get in and out ourselves let alone park up and charge the electric buggies. We have been waiting for the perfect day to get it done, dry, still, not too frozen and free from too many distractions. Wednesday turned out to be that day and we hit it hard, 4 of us cleared it all out into the yard, sorted out what we were going to keep, rearrange, reuse, recycle and chuck. It took all day but the results were impressive, not only is the shed looking super clean and apparently nearly empty, but the buggies got serviced and 40 new bug houses (now hung up in the tunnels) got made from bundles of old canes and cut up waste plastic pipes, All very satisfying. While we were on a roll we cleared the potting tunnel, serviced the machine and cut up all the waste wood built up in despatch from the wooden box repairs. Nearly ready for the spring mayhem. Just need to print another 100,000 labels and we’re done!
Another part of the spring readiness campaign is refreshing some of the hand tools around the site. Brushes, dustpans etc all fall into disrepair after a while and need replacing to keep production efficient. This time round we have taken to heart the anti- plastic mood of the moment and replaced most of the worn out plastic kit with wooden handled, naturally bristled and metal stuff. It wasn’t quite as cheap as the plastic alternatives but not too bad. Hoping the extra feel good factor will create even more positive vibes than usual. We live in hope.
Finalised the pest predator introduction programme this week. Slightly scary the amount of introductions to go in over the year with a 3 weekly cycle of releases of multiple bugs. It’s a lot of money to just let go, but to be fair they do drastically reduce any spraying we might have to do in spots where the predators can’t keep up. We have extended the season of releases, adjusted the mix a bit, trying out a few extra different bugs to increase the range of pests controlled. Fingers crossed they don’t fly away.
Winter delivery minimum orders
Until mid February (last week for this offer) 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.
Availability highlights
Despite the winter weather the Erysimum are looking great. All the green leaved varieties are in tight bud already, leaving the two variegated forms slightly behind on the budding front. Attractive finely cut bronzed foliage of Polemonium Heaven Scent looking fab. The odd bud in sight already, many more will appear very shortly. More of the Pulmonaria are showing bud now, with little splash of colour in the Blue Ensign, a stunning dark blue, the others aren’t far behind with their nice tight variegated/silvered foliage showing nicely.
Euphorbias are looking good, retaining attractive foliage through the winter months before bursting into flower in early spring. Another evergreen early spring flowerer currently looking smart are the Bergenias in two white varieties.
There are two Lamium varieties flushing into a bright early show with their fresh silvery foliage. Some of the spring bulbs are making a break for it, the Alliums are well up (3/pot). Others putting on a spurt are Scilla, Camassia, Tulip, Muscari, Fritillaria and Ipheion. I haven’t marked the Fritillaria as being in bud yet but there are a few about. Primula veris are budding up well as they emerge. We changed suppliers this year to get a more true wild veris strain, after last year’s slightly disappointing over selected bright yellow ones. Live and learn.We have grown a batch of Primula Wanda this year which we haven’t grown for ages, an old, traditional and tough variety with early purple/red flowers produced year after year. They are mostly showing buds and a bit of colour already, on stocky strong plants, although I am hesitant to send them out just yet as I would quite like to see just how big they are going to get! Maybe best if they did this with you and your customers rather than satisfying my curiosity!
Spring is bursting despite the cool temperatures and our Lupins have all made delicious vigorous shoot growth from around the plant base. They seem to do so well as an overwintered crop, producing so many new chunky basal shoots with the potential for so much flower later in the season. We do need to sell these fairly early so that they don’t get too big for our pots, although the early cool weather should help to stop them running away on us.
Wooden box returns
We have collected the majority of our wooden boxes up now from last season, but please do drop us a line if you would like us to pop in and collect any more up. We aren’t up and about too much at the moment, but you will be in our thoughts and on the list. Thanks.
Have a good week from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.
Tuesday 6 February 2018
Hairy Perforations
Morning all,
Not a lot of room for nursery news this week as the plant news is being to take over. The spring sales season preparations are gathering pace as panic begins to set in. I am busy updating some of our printing plates for our wooden labels this weekend and will hopefully get a few printed if all goes well. Unfortunately we lost our young Saturday girl who used to help me out with a lot of the printing and I haven’t quite come to terms with the fact that I am going to have to be a bit more organised myself to fit in a few more hours on this over the next few months. Luckily the over-winter plant tidying out in the unheated and open tunnels is ahead of last year, thanks to sterling work by our staff over these rather nippy months, this should ease the pressure in despatch a bit, which in turn might help the label management, we’ll see.
These days body piercing still seems to be quite popular and as a trendy old chap not wanting to be left out, I joined the ranks this week. The vegetable knife slide off the plate as I approached the dishwasher, landing point down in the middle of my besocked foot. Luckily it landed in a fleshy bit but did leave behind a very neat slit and some colourful language. I have resisted the urge to put a stud in it. Take care out there, it’s a dangerous world.
Made an effort this week to sort out our excess of old pallets by contacting a local wood recycling organisation. We try to cut up what we can of the untreated pallets for our own fuel use but we haven’t kept up with the stack which has grown over the years. It was going to cost way over £1,000 for them to collect them for chipping (there are quite a few) but even so it goes to show how difficult it can be to act responsibly on the sustainability front. We had assumed that the labour involved in us cutting up the pallets would be way in excess of a disposal cost but apparently not. The chipped pallets would have been exported to Scandinavia because there is no local demand down here. There must be some real opportunities out there for a pallet shredder and wood burning boiler arrangement, We are desperately in need of more joined up thinking.
Winter delivery minimum orders
Until mid February (just for the next two weeks) 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. It is still pretty early in the season but the range is picking up now and we do have a few lines to provide a bit of winter interest and colour should you be looking for some hairy input.
Availability highlights
Despite the winter weather the Erysimum are looking great. All the green leaved varieties are in tight bud already, leaving the two variegated forms slightly behind on the budding front.
More of the Pulmonaria are showing bud now, with little splash of colour in the Blue Ensign, a stunning dark blue, the others aren’t far behind with their nice tight variegated/silvered foliage showing nicely.
Euphorbias are looking good, retaining attractive foliage through the winter months before bursting into flower in early spring. Another evergreen early spring flowerer currently looking smart are the Bergenias in three varieties.
There are two Lamium varieties flushing into a bright early show with their fresh silvery foliage. Bright variegated leaves of the short tufted grass Carex Evergold are looking very neat and smart.
Some of our spring bulbs are making a break for it, the Alliums are well up (3/pot). Others putting on a spurt are Camassia, Tulip, Muscari, Fritillaria and Ipheion.
Primula veris are budding up well as they emerge. We changed suppliers this year to get a more true wild veris strain, after last year’s slightly disappointing over selected bright yellow ones. Live and learn.
We have grown a batch of Primula Wanda this year which we haven’t grown for ages, an old, traditional and tough variety with early purple/red flowers year after year. They are mostly showing buds and a bit of colour already, on strong plants, although I am hesitant to send them out just yet as I would quite like to see just how big they are going to get! Maybe best if they did this with you and your customers rather than satisfying my curiosity!
Spring is bursting despite the cool temperatures and our Lupins have all made delicious vigorous shoot growth from around the plant base. They seem to do so well as an overwintered crop, producing so many new chunky basal shoots with the potential for so much flower later in the season. We do need to sell these fairly early so that they don’t get too big for our pots, although the early cool weather should help to stop them running away on us.
Wooden box returns
We have collected the majority of our wooden boxes up now from last season, but please do drop us a line if you would like us to pop in and collect any more up. We aren’t up and about too much at the moment, but you will be in our thoughts and on the list. Thanks.
Have a good week from all at Kirton Farm Nurseries.
Not a lot of room for nursery news this week as the plant news is being to take over. The spring sales season preparations are gathering pace as panic begins to set in. I am busy updating some of our printing plates for our wooden labels this weekend and will hopefully get a few printed if all goes well. Unfortunately we lost our young Saturday girl who used to help me out with a lot of the printing and I haven’t quite come to terms with the fact that I am going to have to be a bit more organised myself to fit in a few more hours on this over the next few months. Luckily the over-winter plant tidying out in the unheated and open tunnels is ahead of last year, thanks to sterling work by our staff over these rather nippy months, this should ease the pressure in despatch a bit, which in turn might help the label management, we’ll see.
These days body piercing still seems to be quite popular and as a trendy old chap not wanting to be left out, I joined the ranks this week. The vegetable knife slide off the plate as I approached the dishwasher, landing point down in the middle of my besocked foot. Luckily it landed in a fleshy bit but did leave behind a very neat slit and some colourful language. I have resisted the urge to put a stud in it. Take care out there, it’s a dangerous world.
Made an effort this week to sort out our excess of old pallets by contacting a local wood recycling organisation. We try to cut up what we can of the untreated pallets for our own fuel use but we haven’t kept up with the stack which has grown over the years. It was going to cost way over £1,000 for them to collect them for chipping (there are quite a few) but even so it goes to show how difficult it can be to act responsibly on the sustainability front. We had assumed that the labour involved in us cutting up the pallets would be way in excess of a disposal cost but apparently not. The chipped pallets would have been exported to Scandinavia because there is no local demand down here. There must be some real opportunities out there for a pallet shredder and wood burning boiler arrangement, We are desperately in need of more joined up thinking.
Winter delivery minimum orders
Until mid February (just for the next two weeks) 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. It is still pretty early in the season but the range is picking up now and we do have a few lines to provide a bit of winter interest and colour should you be looking for some hairy input.
Availability highlights
Despite the winter weather the Erysimum are looking great. All the green leaved varieties are in tight bud already, leaving the two variegated forms slightly behind on the budding front.
More of the Pulmonaria are showing bud now, with little splash of colour in the Blue Ensign, a stunning dark blue, the others aren’t far behind with their nice tight variegated/silvered foliage showing nicely.
Euphorbias are looking good, retaining attractive foliage through the winter months before bursting into flower in early spring. Another evergreen early spring flowerer currently looking smart are the Bergenias in three varieties.
There are two Lamium varieties flushing into a bright early show with their fresh silvery foliage. Bright variegated leaves of the short tufted grass Carex Evergold are looking very neat and smart.
Some of our spring bulbs are making a break for it, the Alliums are well up (3/pot). Others putting on a spurt are Camassia, Tulip, Muscari, Fritillaria and Ipheion.
Primula veris are budding up well as they emerge. We changed suppliers this year to get a more true wild veris strain, after last year’s slightly disappointing over selected bright yellow ones. Live and learn.
We have grown a batch of Primula Wanda this year which we haven’t grown for ages, an old, traditional and tough variety with early purple/red flowers year after year. They are mostly showing buds and a bit of colour already, on strong plants, although I am hesitant to send them out just yet as I would quite like to see just how big they are going to get! Maybe best if they did this with you and your customers rather than satisfying my curiosity!
Spring is bursting despite the cool temperatures and our Lupins have all made delicious vigorous shoot growth from around the plant base. They seem to do so well as an overwintered crop, producing so many new chunky basal shoots with the potential for so much flower later in the season. We do need to sell these fairly early so that they don’t get too big for our pots, although the early cool weather should help to stop them running away on us.
Wooden box returns
We have collected the majority of our wooden boxes up now from last season, but please do drop us a line if you would like us to pop in and collect any more up. We aren’t up and about too much at the moment, 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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