Well what a day,

2 comments

Evening to those who like holding plums,

Yes the weather here has been a real let down,
I was out at 9 am (after walkies) and by the time i got the tools out and the kneeling frame and started to tidy up around the circle of one of the fruit trees it started to just “mist rain” and then all hell let loose and i got soaked only to be asked as i walked into the kitchen “Oh is it raining”.

But i did do my morning walk around the garden “cup of coffee in hand” and ive noticed the plums are now showing shape “only small” but growing,
It wont be long and i’ll do my “hold your plums test” to feel if they are ready for picking.

Now because of all this rain today it gave me a chance to have a read.
My wife has a saying “what go’s round comes round” and what i was reading was an old countryman magazine
I bought a pile of these magazines for a few pounds at a car boot sale in kent two years ago,

They have some really good info about how gardening was way back and i was reading today about when the common man had a chance from the goverment to buy small plots of land “tithe” sale’s,
the idea being that land owners who paid tax to the local church etc for such land would infact be better off if they didnt own it as in most cases it was to small a plot of land and it cost more to own it than to get rid of it.
So many farm workers who lived in farm owned cottages etc jumped at the chance to buy by paying a higher rent to one day own the plots "but also had to pay tax for owning it,
All went well until hard times came along "workers in all forms of work lost their jobs and money became very tight "but the church etc wanted their money and so this caused people tobe taken to court for the debt, bailiffs became more & more employed to take property to cover the debt and so it went on.

When you look at todays loss of homes due to how easy it has been to buy a house in the past and then loose your job etc we are seeing what go’s round come round happen again "but this time its not always due to buying plots of land but having the offer of buying houses etc without deposits in a lot of cases.

When you read such facts of yesterday you can’t help but think we’ve not really moved that far forward when it comes to finance.
Something to think about,

I had my allotment for 15 years and one day we all got a visit from the council “We thought they we’re just inspecting their owned land”
Infact it was to tell us we had 6 months and the allotments would be a building site for houses,
We had no rights and the comlete complex closed,

But a least we only paid a very low rent each year and no rates added.
It really makes you think are we better off today than those people of the pre war years?
Happy gardening to you all

• 13 Jun, 2013
• 1 like

More blog posts by dungy