COLLEGE PARK, Md. As autumn approaches and you harvest your last tomatoes, pep pers and cucumbers, you may think your work in the vegetable garden is done. It’s not. Fall cleanup is an important part of proper vegetable garden management, according to spe cialists at the Home and Garden Information Center of the Cooperative Extension Service University of Maryland at College Older Homes Look Best With Old-Fashioned Landscaping maintain privacy and shut out landscapingprofessionalit’s best damage or kill them, and changing noice. Some remodeling also to involve him or her while you re ™ V a ne Hf light conditions will affect them might be necessary, such as add- setting goals and developing the SSwrtavaSbte 60 too.” says Steams. ‘The best ap ing a side door, putting on a new g* S A. expm- poach is to prccecd will, ,m of porch or fixmg the walkway. mSes ” are selling heirloom plants again ” care . and remember that landscap- Before breaking soil on any vent costly mistakes. Working with an older land in 8 can be done in phases. It property, create a landscaping A landscape contractor can help JJ 1 h ™ doesn’t have to happen all at phut -If you* going » hhc a yo» dec.de winch php* an, »o„h p la^ UNIVERSITY PARK (Centre Co.) When you buy an older home, you’re also buying an older landscape. Those vintage plants often are worth keeping, says a landscaping specialist in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences. “Most yards around older hous es contain plants of the period when the houses were built, such as lilacs, yews, roses and forsy thias,” says Dan Steams, assistant professor of landscape contract ing. ‘These plantings complement older architecture.” It’s often a mistake to remove existing plants and replace them with modem landscaping. “Close ly sculpted hedges, a front deck and a large expanse of lawn may clash with Victorian or colonial homes,” says Steams. “We’ve all seen houses and yards that just don’t fit together.” Steams advises waiting at least a year before altering any la i scape. “Study your yard’s appear ance during each season,” says Steams. ‘There may be spring flowering bulbs, summer-bloom ing shrubs and perennials, trees with colorful fall foliage and ever greens for winter interest. Preserv ing these plants can save time and money.” Does this mean you shouldn’t plant new things? “Not at all,” says Steams. “The key is to blend new plantings with existing ones. This also may mean rejuvenating or removing older plants that are past their prime." Functional issues also will in fluence your landscaping deci sions. “A lot can change during a property’s lifetime.” says Steams. “Many houses were built before there were automobiles. You may need to add a garage or even a driveway. “The quiet lane your house was built beside now may be a busy highway. If this is the case, a tall hedge or fence will be needed to PARMER BOY AQ LUMBER & BUILDING MATERIALS Call or Stop in & See Our Complete Line of Products (fi Peachtree tamkoiii DOORS & WINDOWS ROOFING PRODUCTS LJqJJI 410 Lincoln Ave. Myerstown (Lebanon Co.) PA 17067 Get Vegetable Gardens Ready For Winter Now Park. The first step in winterizing your vegetable garden is to remove diseased and insect infested plants. This will prevent many plant diseases and insect pests from overwintering. Healthy crop residues can be worked into the soil or composted. Next comes soil enhancement through the addition of lime and organic matter. A $5 soil test con ducted at the University of Mary land at College Park will help you How ‘Clean And Green’ Affects Local Taxes HUNTINGDON (Huntingdon Co.) To help preserve farm land, Pennsylvania’s Clean and Green law lets farmers pay taxes on the agricultural value of their land instead of its higher develop ment value. But it also cuts local tax revenues, says a Penn State researcher. “Some of Pennsylvania’s best farmland is at risk of develop ment,” says Dr. Tim Kelsey, assis tant professor of agricultural eco nomics. “Act 319, also known as Clean and Green, was enacted in 1974 to help farmers keep real property taxes in line with their income. Even if farmland is not physically affected by neighbor ing developments, higher property values mean higher taxes.” Kelsey calculated tax revenues lost because of Clean and Green as well as millage rate increases necessary to offset these losses using data on participation in the act in 1991. That year, 45 of the state’s 67 counties had particip ants. More than 42,000 people and more than 3.7 million acres were enrolled in the program. "The average county govern ment with Clean and Green parti cipants lost 3.S percent of its real property tax revenue and 1.2 per cent of its total revenue because of the program,” Kelsey says. “These impacts varied dramatically across counties, municipalities and school districts. “Fulton County, for example, lost a larger share of its total revenue 8.9 percent than any other county, even though it is INC. under less development pressure than many counties,” says Kelsey. “On average, county millage rates would have risen 0.51 mills, and municipal millage rates would have risen 0.26 mills,” Kelsey says. “School district millage rates also would have risen because of Clean and Green. This means the average owner of a house with a market value of $50,000 located in a county with Clean and Green participants pays an additional $38.12 in local property taxes each year.” Clean and Green seems to impose a large burden in certain areas, but are these unfair? The jury is still out “Some people argue that the real property tax is unfair to farmers,” Kelsey says. “Farmers at all income levels gen erally pay around 10 percent of 0 PHILIPS PRODUCTS VINYL WINDOWS * REPLACEMENT WINDOWS 717-866-7565 determine what and how much is needed. Test kits are avail able from the Home and Garden Information Center (1-800-342-2507). The final step is to plant a cover crop. When planted'in the fall and plowed under in the spring, cover crops improve soil structure and fertility while preventing erosion. The best cover crops are legumes. Bacteria associated with the roots of these plants convert nitrogen from the air into a form Uncaatar Farming, Saturday, Saptamber 24, 1994-817 that can be used by plants. The most suitable legume for home gardens is hairy vetch. One of the most efficient soil builders, this winter annual should be sown in September and plowed under in early spring. Non-leguminous alternatives are annual rye and oats, which should be sown between early September and ear ly October. For more information about their household income on real property taxes, while nonfarm households pay a smaller and srtialler share as their income rises. Programs like Clean and Green help to correct that.” Raising taxes to make up for these losses shifts the burden from participating farmers onto other taxpayers. “How these costs are distributed may be more unfair than the size of the costs them selves,” Kelsey notes. “Some communities suffer large impacts even though they are under little development pressure. “People living in Clean and Green communities pay the prog ram’s costs, even though all tax payers benefit from the program. Other states with similar programs shift the costs from local taxing hi i 11.1 mu ■■ - —— Farm all H good cond., new paint. Berks Co. 610-678-1047. Kenquilt, the quilting machine beautiful hand quilting at machine speed, good cond. Lane. Co. 717-445-7547. JD PTO binder, McCormick PTO binder, McCormick grind, driven binder. 304-257-4651 after 8 pm. Grant Co. WV. TD9 bottom rollers and final drive parts. Montg. Co. 215-679-6632. 614 unit crane delt. eng $1350. Joy 125 CFM comp, gas eng. $450. 2 jeeps for parts $450. 12x24 tires & wheels $lOO pr. HD6 dozer needs eng. $1250. Cecil Co. Md. 410-378-2785. Cattle truck 1980 F 350 10 ft. wood body, rear rool door side drop door, cur rent insp. fair $l5OO. Lane. Co. 717-367-4626. JD Tractor, 2 cyclone B's, 2 cyclone A’s 1 is bored, .125 oversize 720 D std. 1944 D 4 bott plow, York Co. 717-432-3991. I vegetable gardens or other horti cultural topics, Maryland resi dents can call the Home and Gar den Information Center at 1-800-342-2507. Experts are available to answer questions about 8 a.m. and 1 p.m., Monday through Friday. Recorded infor mation on a variety of subjects is accessible via touch-tone phone 24 hours a day. districts onto the state’s income tax base. Pennsylvania currently does not do this, so rural residents pay a disproportionate share of the program’s costs.” Preserving farmland might be worth the cost, but the benefits are hard to measure accurately, and there is no consensus on how effective programs like Clean and Green are in preserving farm land,” Kelsey says. A new publication from Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences explores this issue in more detail. For a free copy of “Farmland Preservation in Pen nsylvania; The Impact of ‘Clean and Green’ on Local Governments and Taxpayers,” Extension Circu lar 411, contact the Penn State Cooperative Extension office in your county. Esco 345 gal. milk tank with 2' valve 1 yr. old comp. Best offer Berks Co. 610-683-6676. 7 tend-r-lean beef for butcherin 850115018 65c good looking steer. Frank. 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