There's squawking around here at the assessments, some feel they don't reflect the real market ... hard to say, as there isn't much of a market, not a great deal of turnover at peak times, and very little recently ... a friend got her assessments for two rentals in a nearby town, she just bought one of them last spring for not much over three quarters of their figure, so is pretty hot about it, going to appeal for sure ... last year assessments were frozen at '08 levels, but they upped the mil rate so property taxes were near ten per cent higher, with higher assessment i bet we don't see mil rates go down ... pretty low taxes where we are here, but we don't get much for services either, out in the boonies
My garlic is coming up ... october plantings at two to five inches above mulch, november just breaking through to two inches, nothing yet from december beds ... the weather changed about two weeks ago to Hawaiian Express, from cold clear Beaufort Sea air, we've had daily highs well into the 50s fahrenheit
The two thoughts are connected, garlic rising in january and assessments - there isn't much of this rather large country that has such a climate, even as a fraction of the province the lower coast area is small ... dismal dreary and damp for three or four months a year, the rest quite nice, without much for oppressive heat in summer ... rain's a bugger but 'you don't have to shovel it', as they say ... boomers from all over come here to retire, many buy their land, or have bought, years in advance, makes for more coming than going, which tends to raise property values, and in the case of our area, from quite a low base really
Bulbils - i meant to mention this before, but it's likely not too late - if you can get hold of some bulbils you can plant them in spring, which many do with them, i never have but have wished i had, because of weeding difficulty when you put them in over winter ... advantages of bulbils are 1. you can plant them in spring, 2. you can establish a crop at much lower seed cost ... downside is, you have to wait longer to get substantial harvest, this never bothered me as it is still effective use of time energy and garden space ... one year i planted bulbils of my 'short russian' in the fall, next august got smallish but well-formed and still sizeable bulbs with six cloves nearly every one, this is unusual but something to shoot for, soil tilth/fertility and luck with weather would be key ... here's a good page on the subject, you probably can't get anything from them due to border red tape, but there are likely US suppliers somewhere with a few -
garlicfarm.ca |
