Gita, this is a different tax. The $39 was the bay restoration tax. The rain tax is a new one. Apparently the bay is not being restored enough with the tax we are already paying so they are going to tax us more....
I'm all about cleaning up the bay, but come the heck on. This is getting ridiculous. Let's incentivize "green" practices by farmers instead of taxing everyone. Ugh, don't even get me started....
This message was edited Jan 25, 2014 11:30 AM
Yardening 5- jan 2014, in the snow
Penn State does have more that a football team ya' know. I've used this service and your reply is easy to understand as far as application rates and so on. For those of you close by here's an option. http://extension.psu.edu/allegheny/news/spotlight/penn-state-analytical-laboratories-test-your-soil-and-water
Karen--
The bay restoration tax--as far as I know--was the same as the Rain tax.
So all the talking heads on radio kept saying... They were just using a different name
to make it sound like something else....
politics!! G,
Gita, the Bay Restoration Fund is a whole different animal from the "rain tax". The Bay Restoration bill was originally enacted in 2004, under senate bill 320, (there was later an amendment in 2012; bill 446). The whole purpose of that bill was to upgrade MD's wastewater treatment plants.
The "rain tax", on the other hand, was approved in 2012 originally, on bill 987.
The Bay restoration affects all of Maryland, where-as the "rain tax" effects only 10 of Maryland's counties.
Hope that makes things a bit clearer. :)
I've considered sending my soil out to be tested, but... now I don't remember where it is I was to mail it to, but in my opinion, it cost too much, was around $30-something. I bought a soil testing kit from work and have been using that. It's the simple "Rapitest" kit by Luster Leaf; it checks the basics: Ph, and NPK. I don't have any particularly nasty troubles growing anything, so I haven't felt a need to get any more in-depth ... so far. (fingers crossed). :)
speaking of the rain tax. Montgomery county has been pushing real hard for people to put in rain holders such as permeable driveways, living roofs, rain gardens etc. The last I checked they are offering a subsidy to people who install them. I'm getting ready to take on my HOA and rip out my driveway and install a new driveway. We got an estimate from our landscape architect who is fabulous by the way and its going to come to apx $11K. It needs to be done anyway so might as well do it sustainably and avoid at least part of the tax.
Yehudith
That sounds really cool! Don't forget to take pics, would love to see one in action.. so to speak. ;) Do you get to choose colours and materials, or is there a 'set standard'?
Here's an article about them. http://naturalpathlandscaping.com/permeable.html These aren't my landscaper's work, but these will give you an idea. The biggest hurdle is the HOA but since the county is pushing them its going to be hard for them to fight against it.
Yehudith
Good for you, yehudith! The new permeable paving options are really nice-looking, so hopefully your HOA won't object.
I don't have to have my driveway re-done yet, but I plan to look into permeable surfaces when I do. For one, it might save my back! We have a down-spout that empties onto our driveway right in the area that we walk on most, which isn't a problem most of the year. When we have freezing rain, snow, and then the melting snow and more freezing weather, however, we end up with a patch of black ice that takes a long time to disappear. Rock salt helps until it gets washed away.
Those driveways and patio look great! Another advantage is that your driveway won't crack. For whatever reason, ours does.
What does your HOA want you to have? Concrete or asphalt?
Yehudith, our county has a great rebate system for "rainscaping."
In my neighborhood, they're putting in rain gardens for free in the "hell strip," but I don't qualify due to the massive oak that's there right now. They offered to build one for my neighbor, but she declined. :( She likes grass.
I put in my own little rain garden in the back yard but didn't qualify for the rebates.
Have you seen the ones they've done over on Arcola? I'm really glad we live in such a progressive county although I would prefer to live farther out with an acre or two and no HOA.
Yehudith
I've seen them at Arcola and also in Takoma Park, near the compost pickup area. They look pretty good!
All the runoff in my neighborhood goes directly into a tributary for the Anacostia > Potomac > Chesapeake, so I'm trying to do my best to limit runoff from my yard.
What's the "hell strip" - the area between two houses?
between sidewalk and roadway curbing, i think.
thanks for the link Yehudith, looks fantastic.
Where's the compost pick up site!!!!!!!!!! Do Tell!! Do Tell!!!!!
Yehudith
Muddy, the strip between the sidewalk and the street is sometimes called that. This strip is really wide in my neighborhood and would be great for a rain garden.
Yehudith, they have free leaf compost and also woody mulch. All free as long as you do the loading yourself.
http://www.takomaparkmd.gov/publicworks/mulch-delivery
31 Oswego Avenue
This is all really interesting!
Gita: I had never heard of the rain tax until it was mentioned in this thread. As ssg pointed out, I was only quoting what I saw on-line. Certainly wasn't suggesting any vocabulary issues!
Yehudith: We need to replace our driveway. I am curious as to how smooth and how long-lasting the permeable ones are. If they are hard to shovel, that would be too bad. And if they don't last long, ditto. But otherwise, I'd be inclined to get one so I am very curious about your experience.
As to compost, we bought a truckload of compost from College Park last spring - convenient but not free. But I think they have free pickups as well. There is also free, but not terribly aged, horse manure at Rock Creek stables in DC.
Where are the rain gardens in Arcola (where is Arcola?). I'd love to go on a tour.
Muddy: I haven't been able to get the county interested in what my neighbors are doing to my yard in terms of their redirection of storm water. It has been a very frustrating experience.
I now get all of my mulch free from the Takoma Park pick up site. It's perfect for pathways, but perhaps too rough in texture for garden beds.
The compost is dry and fluffy leaf mold that doesn't look fully composted. It doesn't look or feel like the College Park compost or LeafGro.
Happy, here's a link to the Arcola Green Scape project.
https://montgomerycountymd.mygreenmontgomery.org/2012/06/when-it-rains-on-arcola-avenue/
That is really cool Ss!! Wish they had more photos, but I guess they'll get more and more as the project progresses. Sorta reminds me of how boring those strips always were in So. Cal., nothing but grass. Ugh!
And here's a video!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lJWJ-4xIuA&feature=youtu.be
This is the landscape company we use. http://www.fineearth.com/ they do unbelievably great work and the crews are just a pleasure to have come to your home.
That said, from what I understand, they are much easier to deal with than the concrete and asphalt drives when it comes to snow and ice. They don't seem to build up because of the water storage systems underneath. The one on a neighbors is as smooth as a baby's bum and quite attractive. I've also seen them done so they look like just plain lawn. There are several parking lots at the ZOO that are done that way.
You can get tons of free manure from the stables over on Kemp Mill by the Brookside Gardens. Dig your own to your heart's content.
Website to play with
http://www.plantmaps.com/interactive-maryland-heat-zones-map.php
Get any state, not just MD
Baltimore Zoo did the old style, 1970s, first gen permeable parking, its really crummy now- but so is much of my dear home city Baltimore.
The idea back then was concrete with lots of holes for green stuff to grow thru while bearing the weight of traffic that would otherwise kill vegetation.
This new design looks much better.
Happy, too bad the county wouldn't help, because what your neighbors did has got to be in violation of county water drainage laws. If they got a permit for the work, it would violate that, and whatever company did the work for them broke the law. Perhaps mentioning the fact that what they did is illegal would work?
If you don't want to go there, can you block the flow of water? That is not illegal in Fairfax County - redirecting it to a neighbor's property, yes; blocking a neighbor's water, no (unless it also blocks access to the storm water drain). I had some success blocking neighbors' water through the creation of mini-berms (clay works great, mounded over bricks or landscape timbers to help keep it in place), plastic edging hammered into the ground, and later I added 2x6 inch boards hammered to my fence just below ground level. I don't get a flood of water any more, but my ground still gets overly saturated, so I've just contracted to have a drainage system installed that will take their water to an acceptable downhill spot.
Happy, that is really sad about your neighbor's run-off into your yard. I wonder if maybe they didn't realize what a problem it was going to cause...? It just doesn't seem right to me that you would have to go through more work and expense to rectify their thoughtless mistake. =(
Sally, that is really a fun website that you linked, thank you! =)
Sally, that is interesting. I've seen heat zone ratings for plants, but never a heat zone map.
I'm just a little bit obsessed over Rudbeckia hirta right now.
What's the best way to grow them in our region? Just spread the seeds outside? Start them indoors? Is there a cultivar you all would recommend, or just get the regular R. hirta? Get the seeds online or just at the local nursery?
I have a lot of empty space to fill in between young shrubs and trees. I have this grand vision of filling the void with swaths of yellow blooms. I understand that they're annuals or short lived perennials, which is perfect for my needs.
ssg; I love Rudbeckia hirta -- they are really easy to grow from seed. Gita gave me some seedlings last year, but for the prior few years I just tossed seed around and about from plants as they finished flowering.
muddy and speedie: The storm water runoff is a much more frustrating issue than is appropriate to discuss on this forum. Suffice it to say that it has been a major problem. We are planning to do something along the lines of what muddy suggested -- a combination of plantings that will take up some of the water (we can't do a true rain garden because of the steep slope), a barricade and a conduit of some sort. I don't know exactly how to design it or who to hire to help me build it -- that is a project for the upcoming year.
SS--
Contact Karen (typ...). She has a tall, solid yellow R.Hirta growing and may have
some volunteers she could bring to the Plant swap.
Also--don't R.Hirtas come in different colorations? Yellow with dark brown?
It is also known as Gloriosa Daisy.
I have some seeds from mine that I had a couple years ago. I loved it!
It was a double....I think that is what I gave Happy seedlings of....
Have to remember to seed some again. Probably should striate some in the fridge....
At least ome packet of the seeds--as they can be biennial....
My seedlings from last year's sowing did not make it...I think they were buried behind
some other, too tall, plants. I should grow them out in a pot and then transplant them.
Here is what they looked like.
Okay okay okay, SSG. Pull up a chair and let me tell you how much I love Rudbeckia hirta 'Indian Summer'.... I saw it years ago at the Cylburn Arboretum and mentally bookmarked it as A Plant I Had To Grow.
It is everything great about the species BES magnified times two. Literally, it's twice as tall, twice as wide, blooms are twice as big (picture 1: petals are huge). I had both the species and the variety growing in my backyard by chance last year so the middle picture compares them (picture 2).
The plants that I let go to seed ended up being probably 3 1/2 feet tall. I'm not exaggerating. It went on flowering till frost, even though I never really faithfully deadheaded that plant. Indian Summer is as big as my species echinacea, and the flowers are bigger.
They seemed to be less susceptible to powdery mildew and insect damage, but YMMV (your mileage may vary).
The flowers are such a beautiful dark yellow that they glow in the dark (picture 4, late evening).
I grew them from seed that I started in pots (the few seeds I had left were precious).
I started seeds in spring, no flowers that first year, the foliage was evergreen because we had such a mild winter that year, and the cold stress turned the leaves a gorgeous purple color.
It refused to bloom at all until the second year. BUT IT WAS SO WORTH IT! :)
I regretted not planting MORE of it.
I can't attest to what year 3 will look like, if the plants will survive or reseed or what. Yes, I have lots of seed to share. Hopefully lots of volunteers too. :)
Hope this helps!
Editing to say that I was so inspired that I decided to update my avatar.
This message was edited Jan 27, 2014 2:17 PM
Coffee grounds killed your plant??? What kind of plant was it? Wow, I'd better be careful, I dump coffee grounds and left over coffee on my plants all the time.
RIC: Penn State does indeed have more than a football team, they have a WORLD CLASS BAND!
The blue band has won world championship 6 years in a row. My grandson is a freshman this year and wanted to go to Penn State so he could get in this wonderful band. We all assured him though that they probably don't let freshman make it. WELL HE MADE IT!! He was so thrilled. They practiced 6 days a week! (And performed twice a week or more). He is an engineering student and I was so worried he was going to really get a rude awakening with his grades. All A's in high school is one thing, but in college... ( well HE GOT ALL A'S) !!
(sorry, have to brag a bit about my grandson now and then).
Back to gardening..... the amaryllis is looking pretty good now!
Typ, fantastic pictures!
I'd love some of these seeds! I'm probably going to wintersow half of them.
Typ: I LOVE posts like yours -- gets me so happy and excited for blooming season.
coleuslover123: It was Campanula poscharskyana Blue Waterfall that I killed with coffee grounds -- or maybe it would have died anyway, I don't know. I love that plant, so I thought I was just gently top-dressing it, and not too close to the stems at that.
Happy: I know, right!? There's a winter weather advisory going on outside and I'm practically salivating over these 'Susans!
SSG: I think wintersowing is a great idea.
In fact, that little exercise was so satisfying, I created a new thread so that you can all share your favorite plant from last year. :)
Typ: What a GREAT idea. That will get me thinking for sure!
I am working on some work projects so I'll need some time to post. But I know the plant!
This message was edited Jan 27, 2014 4:12 PM
Typ, those are some incredibly gorgeous Susans!! (and I love your new avatar, too) :)
My first year gardening started with winter sowing, and the endeavor included R. Hirta "Irish Eyes" I started them in late December, and the following Spring/Summer they bloomed like mad. Here's a pic of them surrounding Holly. (this wasn't last year, so I don't think I'm cheating posting the pic here instead of your new thread). ;)
BRRRRRRR
I'll be thinking about which would be my Yearbook choice for 2013. I've been much busier with my new job this year and not paying as much attention to the garden. There must be something though...
typwc, You are right they "do" glow in the dark. Very beautiful.
Thanks, Holly and Speedie. Speedie, I've never seen Irish Eyes in person, and your picture has the best ones I've ever seen. I love that big purple flower too, what is that, hollyhock? Not too familiar with cottage garden plants yet.
I hope you guys enjoyed the challenge of going back through last year's pictures and thinking about warm, sunny flowers and growing things, esp. in this horrible cold January!
Unfortunately my last years pics are locked in the non-working lap top. Ric really needs to get it to the repair shop and see what can be done about it. Usually this time of year I organize pics, work on my DG Journal and use the pics to get ideas for the coming year.