With the Bank of Canada's meeting to discuss prime (overnight lending rate) and the announcement from the Finance minister Jim Flaherty on upcoming changes to mortgage lending guidelines, January was all abuzz on the happenings in the mortgage industry.  Some of the key results were Bank of Canada's decision to maintain prime at 1% due to slower then expected economic recovery of some countries, along with mortgage amortization periods being reduced to 30 years from 35 years, the maximum amount Canadians can borrow to refinance their mortgages will be lowered to 85 per cent from 90 per cent and the government set to withdraw its insurance backing on lines of credit secured on homes, such as home equity lines of credit. Even though changes to lending guidelines are not set to take effect until March 18, 2011 with the change in insurance on home equity lines on April 18, 2011, past experience has shown that CMHC will adopt these new guidelines prior to the effective dates.  To learn more about these new developments please feel free to contact me... Happy February!

FEBRUARY  IN  THE  GARDEN

Well now that winter has raised its snowy cold head, I'm sure there are not too many people out in their gardens, unless its absolutely necessary.  So once again I have decided to talk about garden design, in particular, Herb  Gardens.

Herbs as with most plants have been around for a very very long time.  If you read the bible, there is mention of various herbs used in various ways.  If you research herb garden design, you will find that there is a long history of design  and   herbal uses.  Think of all the teas that one may purchase today; for flavour, for sleeping, for dieting, just for many ailments.  Not only as teas, but for the bath, for eating, for making vinegars, for drying, and even for dyeing.  But on top of all their uses, they can look fabulous in a garden setting because of their textures, heights, colours and because many are easy to grow.  If you want a low maintenance garden, a herb garden, or one with herbs would be a great place to start.

So for those of you who already have a garden, I am going to describe how to create a 6 foot by 6 foot ornamental herb garden.  For those of you just starting out, this 6 foot square garden could be blown up to the proportions that you need for your own garden.  If your garden is rectangular, you could produce half of the square design, but divide those sections further , as they will be larger.

Once you have decided on the location of this 6 foot square, you need to remove any plant material.  Any sunny and sheltered area will suffice.   Use string and canes or stakes to mark the corners. I am suggesting the use of bricks for this project.  Use a spade the wrong way round, to cut along side  the line.  This way the spade goes into the soil  vertically, giving a nice clean edge against which to set the border of bricks.  Once you have edged this square with a row of bricks, make to brick paths that cross in the centre.  Your 6 foot square, will have a 6 foot brick cross( a plus sign) with a double row of bricks, as this is a path for you to walk through and on.  Traditionally herb garden have a sundial in the centre.  But you may opt for a birdbath, sculpture, a tall narrow pot, etc.  If you find the middle, where the paths cross , to be wobbly, you could use a square patio stone, to give it more stability.

So now you have a 6 foot square, divided into four smaller squares by the brick paths with a sundial in the centre.  In each of these four squares, draw a line in the soil from the middle to a corner in each of these four sections.  You are creating planting triangles.  Now your four squares are 8 triangles.  In each of these triangles, you plant, herbs that you like, or the ones that I suggest.  It is good to plan this on paper first, so that you know ahead of time what goes where.  Each triangle should be number from #1  to #8.

In triangle # 1 -  plant  2 fennels

               # 2 -  plant 3  basils

                #3  -  plant 3 chives

               #4  -  plant 3 dill

               #5  -   plant  3   sweet marjoram

               #6  -   plant  3 thyme

               #7  -  plant   5 golden marjoram

               #8  -  plant  3  sage

And on each of the outer corners, prepare four large pots for planting and place them on those corners.  In pot #1 plant 3 parsley; in pot #2 plant 3 apple mint;  in pot #3 plant 6 red basil and in pot #4 plant 3 rosemary.

After you have finished planting and watering everything in well, it is a good idea to spread a thin layer of peat or compost between the plants.  Mulching helps to keep weeds down, improves the soil by adding organic matter to it, and insulates from the heat in  summer and cold in winter and helps the soil to retain moisture.  And it looks good.

Some of these herbs are perennial, and some are annuals.  You will have to replace the annuals every year unless you opt for an all perennial herb garden.  Dills, basil, parsley and rosemary will need to be replaced.  And if you have a spot in your home, you can winter that rosemary inside and even train it into a clipped topiary.

If you were going to expand on this idea to make a much larger and grander garden of a similar design, you could plant small shrubs, perennials, roses, whatever you desire.  On a larger scale I would do a lot with boxwood hedging to create those shapes and then plant inside those shapes.  Where the triangle is surrounded by brick, I would surround it with the boxwood and use the bricks for pathways throughout the whole garden.  

Hopefully this gives you some inspiration.  You are the creator in your own garden.  And if you decide to do something like this, please go to the library, or look up online, herb garden design.  Some of them are extremely intricate.

Roses are red, violets are blue, and these go well, in a herb garden too!  HAPPY VALENTINES DAY TO ALL YOU BUDDING AND FULL BLOWN GARDENERS .

Till next time,