Ivydene Gardens Evergreen Shrubs Gallery:
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The Plant Height Border in this Gallery has changed from :-
Blue = 0-2 feet, Green = 2-6 feet, Red = 6+ feet to

• Brown = 0-1 feet for Prostrate Creeping Shrubs,
• Blue = 1-3 feet for Dwarf Shrubs,
• Green = 3-5 feet for Small Shrubs,
• Red = 5-10 feet for Medium Shrubs,
• Black = 10+ feet for Large Shrubs.

The European Union Fishing Policy (12 January 2011) provides quotas for each type of fish that each fishing boat can land each year. When that quota for a fish has been landed from that boat, then any that are caught after that in that year must be thrown back into the sea, usally dead as discards. Unfortunately the fish in the sea do not swim as individual packs of the same fish for a large area. This means that at least a million tons of fish are thrown overboard each year. That is of course the best way to conserve fish stocks, when less than 20% of the fish caught can be legally landed.

I wonder why those brainy politicians in the European Union do not simply provide a tonnage of fish that can be caught by each boat per year with the proviso that no more than 50% of each catch can be discarded or state that each boat can fish for a quota number of days and land what it catches.

The reason may be the same as when banks that have been bailed out by the taxpayer - who is now paying the price of increased VAT and less likelyhood of employment - provide themselves with billions of pounds of bonus payments. Halifax Bank will have changed its conditions for its customers in March 2011 - the money from a cheque deposited on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday is not available until 4 working days after that day - this is how banks increase their profits. Even though we the taxpayers own a large proportion of the bank, the goverment response is to tax the bonus, rather than stating that bonus should not be paid but used to increase business for the country by loaning it to the Sole Traders or Small Companies. The expected revenue per year of the VAT increase is 13 Billion pounds. The government overspent and had to borrow 13 Billion pounds for the month of December 2010. I wonder how much the war in Afghanistan is costing me.

Of course the government promise that once the Bridge has been paid for over the Dartford Crossing, which it was after 7 years, then its toll would be removed. The current government is increasing the toll and not using any of the increase to alleviate the queues at the toll but simply to raise revenue.

Welcome to Great Britain.

Coblands Nurseries:-
Coblands Nurseries were founded in 1963 growing a wide range of shrubs, herbaceous, grasses, ferns and trees in the ‘coblands’ of Kent. The production nursery extends to over 120 acres on a number of sites in and around Tonbridge, growing approximately a million plants at any one time.
www.best4plants.co.uk now brings this wealth of knowledge and expertise to the general public as well as the trade.

Kevock Garden Plants:-
The present mail-order nursery was developed on a bare site (Kevock Garden is on a slope with the top being well-drained sand, but the underlying clay emerges at the bottom of the slope and that is permanently wet) in 2002 and grows unusual alpine, bog, woodland and herbaceous plants, shrubs and bulbs for both the Retail and Trade markets.
Kevock Garden Plants will design your garden and produce the Planting Plan.

R. V. Roger Ltd, The Nurseries, Malton Road (A169), Pickering, North Yorkshire, YO18 7JW - Tel:(01751)472226 - Fax:(01751)476749 is a traditional third-generation family-run nursery, with the emphasis on plant quality and first-class customer service. The range of field-grown fruit trees grown is one of the best in the country, including many traditional varieties, which are becoming quite rare. They also grow over 40,000 roses in nearly 300 varieties. The rose field is usually in flower from the middle of July until the autumn, when you are welcome to visit and walk through the field. Besides shrubs and ornamental trees, R. V. Roger also produce four bulb catalogues throughout the year, offering choice for a plant or plants by mail order direct from the 280 acre nursery.

Quote from Kentnews.co.uk on Wednesday 12th January 2011:-

"The backbencher’s comments came as the coalition Government announced the cost of petrol will increase by 2p, to 127p a litre while diesel will rise to an average of 131p a litre.

The price hike has enraged commuters and left many, already struggling, businesses teetering on the edge of bankruptcy.

David Pink is a director at Dodds Group in Teynham – one of the largest haulage companies in Swale. Four years ago the company run a fleet of 200 lorries but fuel prices together with unregulated foreign competition has seen this drop to 60.

"The point is this country gets the cheapest fuel in Europe but after the Government adds duty it becomes the most expesive," said Mr Pink.

"The latest increase will effectively see our fuel bill increase by about £1200 per week, which isn’t sustainable."

Mr Pink says the number of foreign lorry drivers with access to cheap petrol is driving many hauliers out of business.

"They have the capacity to carry 1,000 litres of fuel and can enter the country without filling up or paying any tax. It’s impossible to compete."

Starlight taxi firm owner Lionel Kipling agrees. He runs a fleet of 14 taxis in Faversham and says the increased cost of fuel will cost him more than £300 per week.

"We have a contract with Kent County Council but since we signed it last year the cost of diesel has risen by more than 30 pence," said Mr Kipling.

"We can’t change the contract and we can’t increase our prices because these are set by Swale council so this increase will have a huge impact.

"It’s crippling. I’m coming up to retirement so I’ll probably just have to close the business down. I did want to pass it to my son but there’s no point if it’s running at a loss.

"If the price increases up to £1.50 a litre we are dead in the water.

Commuters have also been left wondering how they will find the extra money. Jane Hartman-Jemmett works for the Bradley Group. Based at Kent Science Park in Sittingbourne she commutes from Hythe each day and says the hike will cost her up to £50 more per month.

She said: "I’m going to have less disposable income so I’m undertaking a review of all my household expenditure. I’ve had to reduce charitable donations and am about to move gyms to cut costs.

"I think it’s completely outrageous that diesel is significantly cheaper 23 miles away in Calais."

As one can see from the above, the UK government are of course benefitting the hauliers in the rest of the European Union, but with reduced disposable income, I suspect that the public in the UK may not be able to create a spending boom to get us out of this spiralling downward economy.

If the government can overspend by 13 billion in a month, then taxes will have to rise, jobs will disappear and then taxes will have to rise again to only pay the interest on the 4.85 Trillion Pounds National Debt. We as a country are broke and the systems set up by the banks and government to pay for it will cause at least a 10 year recession. It is a pity that the lessons learnt in Hongkong and then the other countries in the Far East are not applied here, but I am sure that I will of course enjoy my Bread and Dripping from my pension in a short while whilst the bankers take millions of pounds as annual bonuses.