THE GREAT WATER GAME BEGINS!!

Hello - what a week!! It has felt more like July here at the nursery than April.

For the most part, we have had blue skies and a blazing hot sun - that chilly wind has still been about - but even that should disappear in the next few days.

There have been several quite sharp overnight frosts - which with the blossom and young growth has been a bit of a concern - but it does not seem to have done any serious damage at the moment.

Of much bigger concern though is how dry it has become - yet again!

It is incredible to think that after one of the coldest and wettest winters on record - we are now finding a number of plants are starting to run short of water. We have not actually had any rain for three weeks in Suffolk - Easter Saturday was the last really wet day.

There is plenty of moisture down below - but the top of the ground has got very hard and really dried out - mostly due to a lethal combination of hot sun and strong winds - the old NURSERYMAN'S NIGHTMARE. Anything newly-planted or newly-potted must be kept well-watered for successful rooting.

After last summer - when it did not rain for 6 months in East Anglia - the signs are ominous that it is going exactly the same way this year. Great weather if you are laying on a beach - but if you are a serious gardener or running a nursery with thousands of plants - you may not be quite so happy!!

So we have had to bring our irrigation programme forward - and we are now running a full summer schedule - all the trees and all the stock areas have been brought online - and the bore hole is churning out water left, right and centre. It is still far too early to say what the summer is going to bring - but the early signs would suggest it could be a scorcher!!

Whatever the outcome - we must always stay ahead of the game - water is one of the most difficult operations to manage on the nursery - too little and plants will quickly go backwards - too much and they will also suffer. We change our irrigation programme daily to suit the weather - and the many different environments on the nursery - but it is a headache to be sure. With no decent rainfall on the horizon - it will occupy a lot of my thoughts - probably for the next six months!!

Something else that is starting to occupy our thoughts as well is the SUFFOLK SHOW. We will again have two stands there - one outside the flower show made up of edible stuff - from fruit to herbs - to vegetables - and our usual huge display inside the marquee.

Although the show is eight weeks away - preparations are well underway - and we are starting to get some serious items allocated in advance. Although it is only a two-day show - it takes up an enormous amount of time and energy - so forward planning is all important.

We have also begun our SHRUB CUTTINGS programme this week. Certain items do very well from cuttings at this time of year - so the girls are busily harvesting the young growth - a little time spent now will provide hundreds of new plants for the autumn season.

Other than that - there is much potting on of young stock preparing for the autumn planting season - there look at that - we are planning for autumn already - and it is only just spring!!
But you have to get ahead in this game - there's no prize for being behind!!

UNTIL NEXT TIME,
RICHARD