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October, November, December 2009

October was a very dry month with little rainfall in the local area and vey mild temperatures. This meant that October was in fact a good ‘growing’ month for the field stock, with improved bushiness in the laurels and yew plants.

The dry October did delay the start of lifting but we are well into the lifting season now.

November was almost a complete opposite to October, remembering only the odd day when it didn’t actually rain! Again this caused a few issues with lifting stock from our fields but overall we coped admirably with the conditions.

Nevertheless, November turned out to be a record month for Boultons with field sales increasing 50% over last November.

The start of December was perhaps "bitter sweet" for us at Boultons

Mr John Wilkinson retired from work at Boultons after serving 48 years with us. John spent all his working years at Boultons primarily in field stock production, rarely missing a day, and loving every minute of it (well almost every minute!)

He is a remarkable man, with endless spirit and desire, in work and life itself. A true hard working man with pride, compassion, honesty, integrity and a ‘lion hearted’ determination to see a job done. John has helped establish Boultons as a leading nursery stock supplier, and many of the rootballed plants we have supplied over this last 48 years have undoubtedly seen a significant contribution from John.

Thank you John, we will miss you and wish you and Christine many a happier year ahead.

July - August - September 2009

July turned out to be a bit of a ‘wash out’ to say the least!

Well, at least we didn’t have to water as much outside and the plants look very healthy for all that rain water.

Despite the wet weather plant growth was very good and the peat free compost trials are performing well overall.

The Vital Earth compost did remarkably well and we saw significant development in its practical use in our production here at Moddershall. The plants performed amazingly and exceeded all expectations and performance from previous seasons.

Sinclair peat free performed well both under glass and outdoor, with good even growth rates and far less weed content in the pot (in some cases nil).

The Petersfield compost trial produced ‘mixed results’ but on the whole we were pleased with the outcome, considering it was the first time we had used it in nursery production. The positives we found were that weed seed germination was significantly less than on peat based compost as was the presence of liverwort. In fact liverwort did not appear on any of the Petersfield trial plants, even after the relatively wet year early to mid summer.

Our trials on bio-degradable pots proved positive with good results in growth rate

August – September saw our propagation department kick into over drive and is well on schedule to produce in excess of 100,000 young plants for our potting production next season.

September also sees liner potting in full swing, and the use of bio-degradable liners in 100% of our production.

September saw continued upgrades to the nursery with the emphasis on more efficient methods of working, details of which will follow in early October 2009.

June 2009

Potting still full steam ahead, when will it end!

Greater use of peat free composts in our plant production this season sees us moving ever closer to our goal of peat free by end of 2011. We have introduced two new peat free compost suppliers into our production this year, Sinclair and Petersfield. We will be updating our website with growth reports during this growing season.

We have also had great early results from our Vital Earth green waste compost and will keep you updated as to its progress through this season.

We have also potted a large number of plants into 1.3LT bio-degradable pots for use in our 5LT production. This will save time, having not to remove a plastic pot before potting. It will also save on plastic waste. All plants have been potted into Sinclair peat free compost.

May 2009

The nursery is now filling up nicely with this seasons new potting and we are still full steam ahead potting.

Field planting well underway this month and we should see completion by end of June 2009

February 2009

The start of some ‘proper’ winter weather saw temperatures on the nursery rise little above freezing for several days. Heavy falls of snow saw some significant disruption in the local area.

Propagation started this month and we are already ahead of schedule with some 30,000 cell plants completed thus far. The continuation in the use of bio-degradable liners and successful trials of green waste liner compost sees Boultons commitment to the environment increase.

Early February saw the start of our 2009 potting programme with the emphasis on 5LT production.

Late February sees the start of major re-development works on the nursery site. Work will include new roadways and better drainage facilities. In addition there will be refurbishment of existing glasshouse structures and loading/unloading areas.

November 2008

Early November saw the commencement of land preparation for our early spring 2009 planting. More quality land was acquired locally to the nursery to aid our four year programme of field production. This will help towards better stock continuity and enable us to supply quality evergreen shrubs and conifers more consistently in the coming years.

Wider planting spaces will allow better quality plants and also aid with plant husbandry. The aim is to use as little chemical herbicides as possible for weed control, with preference given to cultivation methods to control weeds.

This new improved planting programme will once again see Boultons as a leading contender in the field grown shrub market.

September 2008

Saw continued success in the use of green waste growing compost with favourable results in both root and plant growth. Liverwort problems associated with peat based compost were virtually nonexistent with the green waste compost.

April 2008

April has seen changes to the Boultons web site with new pictures and product information. Our new ‘trade only’ section has been set up to allow existing and new customers to view our stock lists on line and down load a copy of our catalogue. A new ‘looking good’ section has been included which will give the customer an instant view of our latest ‘looking good’ plants. This will be updated on a daily basis.

March 2008

March saw the new season potting in full swing on the nursery site at Moddershall. Our usual bareroot potting was this year replaced by cell grown stock. Cell grown stock enabled us to pot these items more efficiently and also to ensure UK provenance stock which is increasingly required in today’s landscape projects. Our commitment to the use of green waste growing medium has continued this year with us potting 40,000 2 and 3 LT pots. This has allowed us to pot a greater range of hardy nursery stock using the peat free compost, and look forward to the results later this year.

Potting also saw the introduction this year of jiffy bio-degradable pots for our liner production. This has proved very beneficial during potting as the liners were potted directly without the need for removing pots (thus reducing time and waste product). We are very happy with the results, and we have increased liner production using the jiffy pots to 80,000 units this year, replacing all plastic pot liner production on the nursery. The use of jiffy pots has dramatically increased efficiency on potting and greatly reduced waste product, and Boultons are now fully committed to using these pots for all of the liner production on the nursery.

Our mobile potting unit received major upgrades over this winter, seeing the introduction of new ramps and a self levelling system to aid better, safer access for our employees. The biggest change has seen a brand new potting machine and compost hopper installed.

During March our field production team got to work on a new four year planting programme. Land was cleared in readiness for the new planting. This stock will be produced with little or no end waste product and careful land management will see a dramatic reduction in the use of chemical herbicides and fertilizers. Simply, our aim is to produce a ‘clean green’ plant.

Our field production team has had a very busy year with sales of field grown shrubs seeing a dramatic increase. Our field manager John Wilkinson said ‘it’s been a year to remember, we have been flat out all season lifting’. With this in mind several upgrades to the field production infrastructure are planned this year to aid more efficient lifting and response to increasing demand for this quality product.

November 2007

Our new catalogue was finally finished and is now available by download from here.

It is also available in hard copy or CD-Rom by request.

October 2007

The start of major grounds works on the nursery site at Moddershall. New drains have been installed to provide faster water dispersion off all growing areas on the nursery. Further to this, new roads have been constructed to allow better access on the nursery for dispatching and potting.

A new irrigation system has been installed providing more efficient use of water and electricity. New nozzles have also been trialled to make better use of water (directing water where it's needed)

July 2007

This month saw the completion of our brand new propagation area. This includes space for an additional 60,000 liners and a state of the art cutting preparation area. Other changes in propagation have been the use of peat free plug trays and Bio-degradable pot liners.

March 2007

This month saw increased use of peat free compost in our 5Lt pot production We now grow over 30,000 plants in peat free compost and are looking to increase this year on year.

January 2007

Boultons has stepped up its commitment to the environment and is now sending all plastic, cardboard and other waste materials to a re-cycling unit based in Staffordshire.

March 2006

This is the heated annexe of our new propagation aftercare unit. These plugs will soon be prepared for Spring potting and liner production.