Post by Cherry on Jun 7, 2013 19:54:14 GMT
On Wednesday evening I went on a NFU farm walk and visited a huge cut flower nursery at Terrington St Clement. The land bordered the lower bank of The Wash so I felt that they should be growing samphire in the marshes rather than the Paeonies, Stocks, Asters, Lilies and Chrysanthemums which are the current crops. The stocks are grown in huge greenhouses which use bio-fuels for heat. The rest are all grown outside, although I did not see the Chrysanths. Tulips and Daffodils are the main crop and the bulbs are tricked into flowering early with temperature changes in the greenhouses, or really in boxes against the warm or cold walls. Some of the farm is in Lincolnshire too, but we did not need passports to visit them. We were taken in mini-buses. The rest of the area was basking in late sunshine and we were so cold with the wind off the North Sea that I found my jaw had almost siezed and I could not talk. We were glad to see the barbeque and wine and beer at the finish. The supermarkets dictate the number of stems, point of opening of the flowers, size of stems, weight of each bunch, etc., and they are packed and placed into sleeves and the big vases of their choice. Orders were coming in while we were there. One was for Morrisons.
Stocks. The plugs come from Holland as they are no longer available locally.
Bio-fuel. That dark part is a load of chipped daffodil bulbs. They use pallets too as these are more expensive to return than burn. The floor the speaker is standing on 'walks' the fuel into the boiler.
Lilies
Asters. These were only a couple of days old and the plugs were grown in Terrington St Clement.
Paeonies. The farm is paid 30p per stem which is the most expensive crop.
The pickers move down the rows using knives and lay the blooms on the conveyor belt which takes the stems to the machine. They are then laid in the cage, and each layer is covered with room between each layer, until the cage is full.
Tractors. The one on the left lifts the bulbs in the pallets and sends it over the roof to the back where they are planted like potatoes. The back section alone cost more than an average house. The tractor on the right is all satnav driven and never runs over a plant. The middle one is also driven by satnav and uses the same dimensions as the big tractor so there is no danger to plants.
This photo is a comparison shot so you can see how big this tractor is.
Stocks. The plugs come from Holland as they are no longer available locally.
Bio-fuel. That dark part is a load of chipped daffodil bulbs. They use pallets too as these are more expensive to return than burn. The floor the speaker is standing on 'walks' the fuel into the boiler.
Lilies
Asters. These were only a couple of days old and the plugs were grown in Terrington St Clement.
Paeonies. The farm is paid 30p per stem which is the most expensive crop.
The pickers move down the rows using knives and lay the blooms on the conveyor belt which takes the stems to the machine. They are then laid in the cage, and each layer is covered with room between each layer, until the cage is full.
Tractors. The one on the left lifts the bulbs in the pallets and sends it over the roof to the back where they are planted like potatoes. The back section alone cost more than an average house. The tractor on the right is all satnav driven and never runs over a plant. The middle one is also driven by satnav and uses the same dimensions as the big tractor so there is no danger to plants.
This photo is a comparison shot so you can see how big this tractor is.