Undiscovered Coolings Winter 2019

HOME GROWN EXPERIENCE

Plants will always take centre stage at Coolings, but we would like to take you on a behind the scenes tour of all the supporting cast members!

While plants are our passion, growing is our talent and this brochure will provide you with a backstage pass to our on-site production nursery and heritage.

MORE THAN JUST A GARDEN CENTRE

Life on our nursery

Through the Seasons Many of you choose to visit us for our knowledgeable staff and our large range and quality of plants, but did you know that we grow the majority of our plants ourselves on our Nursery at Rushmore Hill? Our 4.5 acre Nursery is hidden around the back of our site. You may have glimpsed a view of one of our six production glasshouses and our two massive reservoirs, whilst sitting outside in Arthurs Garden enjoying your lunch!

Those of you who know our history well, will know that we’ve been growing since the start of our journey back in 1913, when the business began with Arthur Cooling (Grandfather of our current Chairman, Paul Cooling) growing a few market garden crops on an acre of land at the rear of Chislehurst High Street. Growing our own has always been a huge part of who we are, but now-a-days the production of over 200 varieties of roses, 300 varieties of shrubs, 600 varieties of herbaceous perennials, over 200 varieties of conifers, a vast range of trees and 80% of our total bedding – has become much busier and more complex!

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Winter

You would think it would be a quiet time, but trust us, it isn’t! The winter months are spent maintaining and preparing. We carry out some husbandry and begin filling pots.

It’s also our only opportunity to carry out repair works and check all our boilers and water systems to ensure they are working to capacity. The team begin the first months of the new year with filling patio containers and baskets ready for production, and checking that pots and other stock needed have all arrived. By February, we will have begun production by sowing the first seeds.

Spring

The team ‘spring’ into action and are at their busiest at this time of year. We continue potting up plants well into March and there is increased husbandry and care for plants already in production. April is our peak production month with over 40,000 bedding and hardy plants a week entering the production cycle. Our nursery is full to bursting and it is around this time that we invite customers to tour the nursery in all its glory (see page 7 for details). May is our peak selling month and production is still in full swing with many hours spent by the team watering, collating orders and maintaining plant husbandry.

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Summer

June sees the start of our autumn production with herbaceous perennials, pansies, primroses, cyclamen and chrysanthemums being our main focus. Staff will begin to take their holidays in July and make the most of a well-earned rest! We also use this time to visit plant trials and to look at new plant breeding as we begin to think about the next year’s production. It is also the time we put together a selection of our best bedding and hardy plants to showcase in their full glory at our annual Summer Flower Exhibition that we have run for the last 20 years in July. August is packed with autumn pansy and wallflower production, potting up shrubs and perennials and ordering roses (18 months in advance of when we need them in order for them to grow in time!).

Autumn

In September, new plant availability catalogues are published so we can decide on what we want to grow for the next year and get those orders underway. Autumn production continues and as October hits we finalise plug, and liner orders, begin potting up roses and pelargoniums, bare root perennials and Senetti ready for the spring. We finish the autumn with paperwork – collating order confirmations, checking plant production plan sheets for the following year, stock taking pots and labels and ordering compost requirements ready for next year. We end the autumn by finishing all the rose potting.

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Team Focus:

Did you know

There are two sid ? es nursery stock (sh to the Nursery. Hardy rubs, herbaceous trees) and bedd , conifers, ing including th e production of 6,000 hangin g baskets a year !

now?

Did you k ployed full time on ou95r

er e em Six staff ar ing between them ov lings’ av h y, er g the Coo in nurs w ro g ience erience ears’ exper years’ exp other 44 y way, and an the industry. in elsewhere

We are always able to keep our display benches and beds fully stocked as our plants are grown on-site.

Plant batches are produced each week and are sent down to the Garden Centre within 10 minutes!

Name: Neil Russen Position: Nursery Supervisor Career/experience: Neil joined us in 2001 following 17-years at a local nursery in Kent growing flowering pot plants and bedding for the multiples.

Responsible for: At Coolings, Neil manages the hardy side of our nursery production team who are responsible for producing high standards of hardy shrubs and fulfilling of garden centre orders for our hardy plant stock.

“My passion for horticulture has been passed down from my Grandfather who ownedw our old production site during WW2 (called The Spinney Nursery which was purchased in later years by Michael Cooling).

I followed in his footsteps by starting my career in a garden shop in Sevenoaks High Street followed by completing an OND in commercial horticulture at Hadlow College in the early 80’s.”

Name: Helen Pert Position: Bedding Supervisor Career/experience: Helen joined us in 2007. After 11 years as a Veterinary Nurse, Helen decided to pursue her passion for gardening and change her path to follow a career in horticulture. Helen, as with most of the team, has completed her RHS level 2 Principles in Horticulture qualification and currently supervises the production of all our bedding plants.

Responsible for: Helen ensures that everyone has what they need in order to get the job done. It’s important that communication between the Nursery and the retail plants team is effective to maximise our efficiency. Helen and her team also work the production machinery – which during peak times can see them potting up around 40,000 plants a week and transplanting around 10,000 plugs an hour!

“I love the challenge that comes with working on the Nursery. Growing vast numbers of stock particularly during our peak times, can be daunting, but we always manage to meet the demand. It’s certainly never dull! The physical demand and practical nature of my job really suits my personality as well as working with my team”.

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A New Addition to the Family

Coolings Potted Garden Nursery As some of you may already know, we have recently added a new site to the Coolings portfolio with the purchase of the well-respected retail nursery business previously known as The Potted Garden Nursery in Bearsted, Maidstone.

The Potted Garden was previously owned by Rob and Amanda Brookman who, similarly to Coolings, prided their independent, family run nursery and garden centre on its passion for, and core focus on plants.

The site boasts an extensive herbaceous, shrub and climber offering as well as roses, trees, conifers, ferns, grasses and bamboos, bedding plants, herbs, vegetables, alpines and Christmas trees are available seasonally.

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We have been friends with Rob and Amanda for many years and admire the Potted Garden Nursery, so when the opportunity arose it was a win-win move for both parties’ Like Coolings, The Potted Garden has always placed great value on its staff members, so it has been a pleasure welcoming the new, dedicated team at the Potted Garden into the Coolings family. Rob and Amanda also built many long-term relationships with their customers, so we look forward to greeting them all over the coming months.

Since taking over the site at the end of 2017, we have been busy adding ‘The Gardener’s Café’ to the site as well as stocktaking, expanding the tools, lawncare, watering, birdcare and stoneware ranges in the shop, and generally putting our stamp on the site!

Plants will always remain at the core of what we do and we will not be rushing into any large changes, as we are mindful to preserve the wonderful charm of the site and the excellent ‘personal touch’ customers enjoy.

We are only the 4th owners of Coolings Potted Garden Nursery since it was established over 90 years ago in 1927 and we look forward to being part of the next chapter in its history. The site is five minutes from beautiful Leeds Castle. If you haven’t already been to visit, you won’t be disappointed.

Team Focus:

Name: Lawrence Wills Position: Nursery Manager at Coolings Potted Garden Nursery Career/experience: Lawrence has been at Coolings Potted Garden Nursery since 1992 following two and a half years working for a large wholesale nursery gaining experience in the commercial production of trees and shrubs. Prior to that, he studied for his National Certificate in Horticulture at Hadlow College.

Responsible for: Lawrence is the Nursery Manager and is responsible for organising the nursery production, husbandry, nursery stock and plant care, as well as serving and advising customers. Lawrence has a keen eye for identifying plants and has extensive knowledge on pest and disease diagnosis.

“Similarly to Coolings The Gardener’s Garden Centre, we are always on the lookout for new varieties of plants that perhaps aren’t available in other garden centres, whilst being mindful not to lose the old favourites that our customers love.

When I first joined the nursery there were generally three or four varieties of Heuchera that garden centres stocked, but now there are hundreds. We stock over 20 varieties of Heuchera alone amongst our huge range of herbaceous and shrubs that have really expanded in the time I’ve been here, with the introduction of so many cultivars – it’s hard to keep up!

We are looking forward to merging our knowledge and growing experience with the team in Knockholt to enhance our customer offering even further”.

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Our Heritage

Over 100 Years and Still Growing

Our passion for plants, alongside our appetite for growing our own, has been paramount for each of the three generations of Coolings at the helm, from when it was established by Arthur Cooling in 1913, through to moving to the Rushmore Hill site in 1990, the purchase of our Green & Pleasant site in 2004 and more recently the Potted Garden Nursery in 2017.

The commitment and passion of the Coolings family has also spilled over to many of the staff that have worked for us over the years, seven of whom – who work across a diverse range of departments – have all celebrated their 25-year anniversary at Coolings.

The first photographic evidence of any horticultural undertaking is this picture of Arthur Cooling in 1912, behind a borrowed horse and plough, producing market garden crops such as cabbages, carrots and lettuce, on land behind what is now Belmont Parade in Chislehurst.

During the early 30s, the addition of a few greenhouses built from second hand materials and the hard work of Arthur and his wife Miriam, made it possible to grow tomatoes, together with a very limited amount of bedding plants, such as alyssum, lobelia and antirrhinums. When Arthur’s son, Michael, came on board in 1953 after completing horticulture college, he brought with him lots of new and innovative ideas, and the growing of simple flowering plants such as wallflowers, polyanthus, chrysanthemums, dahlias and forget-menots began to grow and grow.

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Present Day Today, third generation and Chairman, Paul Cooling captains the ship together with Managing Director Gary Carvosso.

Director, Ian Hazon, steers the operation and production of our Nursery.

How has our experience grown?

Since 1991 there have been many innovative changes to the way we grow including: ☛ The digging of our reservoirs so we are more self-sufficient for our water requirements ☛ Growing plants in gutters suspended within the glasshouses to increase production space; we are growing one crop on top of another and when we hang our baskets that is three crops high! ☛ Installing machines to help with production. We had one potting machine which could produce up to 3,000 potted plants an hour, we now have two of these plus a robotic transplanter. This will prick out 10,000 plants an hour, meaning a task that used to take us a week can now be done in three days! Also, a tray filler which fills all the packs for the bedding plants, another job that used to be done by hand. ☛ Extended growing areas, additional polythene tunnels, further new additional glasshouses built in 2000 and our massive half an acre glasshouse known as House 6 built in 2014 where, as well as being full of growing plants for most of the year, we have events such as our annual Summer Showcase Flower Exhibition.

Would you like to see our Nu rsery Join us at 11am on Thursday

at work?

25th April 2019 for a FREE gui ded tour of our production Nursery.

You will be taken around our glas shouses by a senior member of the production team and we will show you how we manage to get 40,000 plants thro cycle a week, as well as sharing ugh our scheduling methods with you. our production meet our team, see the machine ry in operation, watch us potting It’s a great way to up and see the work we do up close and personal.

The tours are free of charge, no need to book just pop along on the day and let reception know you are here.

Don’t worry, if you can’t make this shorter tours every Saturday and particular date we are also running Sunday during May 2019 at 11am .

Again, just pop along on the day, no need to book.

Private tours available on requ est, for more information please contact: Ian Hazon at ianhazon@coolin gs.co.uk or 01959 532269 Undiscovered Coolings

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New for Spring 2019: This spring, we are excited to be opening a Market Garden in the greenhouse next to Arthurs garden, where we will be growing fresh, seasonal produce for our chefs in Arthurs. The practical convenience of growing kitchen staples ourselves means that our chefs are able to pick fresh as well as utilise the flexibility, freshness of flavour, convenience and creativity the garden inspires.

Team Focus:

It also connects our passionate chefs directly to seasonality, creating ‘farm to fork’ dishes for our customers to devour. Customers are welcome to come in and wander around the crops that we are growing. Our aim is to start with runner and french beans, courgettes, garlic, potatoes, tomatoes, lettuce and salad crops, peppers, peas for both pods and shoots as well as a range of edible flowers to be used as garnish (viola, nasturtium, calendula).

Beds are being built as you read and we have already begun sowing seeds such as peas.

More detailed information will be in our next edition of Cuttings.

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Name: Ian Hazon Position: Production and Operations Director Career/experience: Ian joined Coolings in 1991 as Glasshouse Foreman when our growing facilities were located at Spinney Nurseries, further up into the village next to what is now Coolings Green & Pleasant.

It wasn’t long after Ian joined that we moved the nursery down to its current home at Rushmore Hill. Having the nursery on site had been a long-term goal of Michael Cooling to aid efficiency, reduce transport and provide modern facilities.

“Horticulture and Agriculture is something I have always been interested in from a very early age. I bought my first greenhouse at 12 when I realised that I could take a packet of seeds, grow plants and sell them for a profit. I had a few jobs on local farms during school holidays (the promise of driving a tractor always appealed) and on leaving school, I started work at a commercial bedding plant producer in Newington, Kent. Here I learned many important lessons, including production methods that I still use today. After a couple of years, I had enough experience and qualifications to be accepted into Hadlow Horticultural College where I studied commercial glasshouse crops.

We are now producing more plants than ever for our sites so, to ensure a tight ship, the nursery team work closely together to ensure production requirements are met.

We also spend time through the summer visiting our breeders to ensure we are still offering the very best plants available, something Michael Cooling and his father Arthur did before him”.

Coolings and the

Environment

At Coolings, we strive to be as green as possible to reduce our impact on the environment.

Our aim is to be the ‘greenest’ retailer in the UK, and the environment is consistently at the heart of our business.

The fact that we grow thousands of plants on our own on-site nursery every year is obviously a good start.

With six full time growers on site, we already eliminate the risk of imported pests/diseases and reduce our carbon footprint due to no transportation requirements. We also compost more than two shipping containers worth of green waste per annum.

Reserving our Water At the back of our site we have two enormous reservoirs which hold the equivalent of approximately six Olympic sized swimming pools worth of rainwater (1.3 million gallons)! We also collect rainwater from the roofs of our buildings, glasshouses, polythene tunnels and the run off from irrigation, and pipe it back to our reservoirs. We also use drip irrigation and sub-irrigation extensively, with plants taking up their water requirement through capillary action. All in all, we are less dependent on hard tap water and are able to conserve our precious water reserves, which consequently results in stronger, healthier plant growth with less need for chemical sprays.

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New Year Resolutions now?

Did yoy,u 7k6% of Local Authorpitarietsof Pot recycling is back!

“Many of you will be pleased to know that we will be re-introducing plastic pot recycling.

We’ve made some improvements to our on-site recycling process which has enabled us to commit to offering this scheme again (even though the council will not!). Our recycling area remains in the main car park at both The Gardener’s Garden Centre and Coolings Potted Garden Nursery.

Currentl trays as es but s, tubs and collect pot ide recycling schemnt pots bs la p er k k r ac ei bl th ). This is collect the not many our local authority carbon g in in ta d n u co cl s n (i infra-red e plant pot because th ent which absorbs cycling. m re ig g p in k er ac d bl tions, hin carbon from detec upe pot will use a lene, ta y p ew ro n p y e h ol T ent free p black pigmis problem – cal solving th d to persuade the lo ! em th t we just nee s to collec authoritie

Going Potty for Pots!

Coolings, alongside the rest of the horticultural industry, has for many years battled against single-use plastics and has strived to find a sustainable alternative to single-use plastic pots, to give our customers the environmentally friendly option they’ve been searching for. Finally, there has been progress.

Last summer, the first kerbside recyclable taupe plant pots were introduced, which we look forward to using in 2019. Our aim is to move over to using the new recyclable pots completely within 12 months. However, this is only half the battle won. We still need the support of our local authorities to agree that they will accept taupe recyclable pots for recycling. All your support in pressing our local councils on this matter would be greatly appreciated, as our efforts alone do not seem to be enough.

Shop till you drop!

Our new fully recyclable carrier bags are made from natural plant based materials.

They look and feel like plastic, but are completely biodegradable.

‘For a detailed look at where we reduce our impact on the environment please visit www.coolings.co.uk

Visit Us...

Coolings The Gardener's Garden Centre Rushmore Hill, Knockholt, Sevenoaks, Kent TN14 7NN T: 01959 532269 E: rushmorehill@coolings.co.uk W: www.coolings.co.uk Coolings Potted Garden Nursery Ashford Road, Bearsted, Maidstone, Kent, ME14 4NH T: 01622 737801 Coolings Green & Pleasant Main Road, Knockholt, Kent, TN14 7LJ T: 01959 534386 E: mainroad@coolings.co.uk W: www.coolingsgreenandpleasant.co.uk

Opening Times Monday - Saturday 9am - 5pm Sunday 9am - 4.30pm (Opening times at Coolings Potted Garden Nursery and Coolings Green & Pleasant may vary).

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Coolings Family is promoted by Coolings Nurseries Ltd. The use of all Coolings Family benefits are bound by our terms and conditions available on www.coolings.co.uk or by request.