George Steeves

electricfarms.com - Germinating the seeds of ideas for rural living through, agriculture, art, craft, and appropriate technology

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This site is being replaced with my new site:
 
This site has not been updated in several years now as it has been replaced with my new sites:
 
To see my new rural living site:
 
For information related to stonework:
 
For information relating to plants and planting:
 
For information relating to C# programming see:
http://electriac.googlepages.com/home
 
 
 
 
Well I finally got fed up with MS Office Live which I used to build my web site.  I started to use Office Live when it was in beta development and I had hoped it would improve in time.  Instead of improving it kept getting worse.  I would contact MS ( in India ) and relate my problems and would receive profuse apologies with a boiler plate answers to unasked questions.   If MS is going to transfer their programming work to India they are in trouble as a company.

Google has recently created a new service similar to Office Live which allows anyone to create their own website.  I have only been a member for two days and I am saying syanora MS.  The editing and functionality of GooglePages is so good I have completely transferred all of my Office Live site to this new site in less than 16hrs of work.  I will retain my old site for a while and use it to redirect people to my new site as the old site has considerable prominence on the web.

To see my new site:
 
 
About Perennials:

 

Most of my garden space is devoted to perennials.  I find that it is easier to maintain perennial gardens than to mow lawns.  Since most perennials survive from year to year they are much more cost effective than annuals.  In fact they often multiply on their own providing stock for expansion or to give away.

 

 

 

On numerous occasions I am asked what perennials require, or when do they bloom, or what kind of soil do they like.  Unfortunately there is no general answer because perennials comprise a large number of plants with many differing cultural requirements.  I have to grow only the hardiest perennials in my Gilboa location as it is a Zone 3 climate. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To describe cultural information for the hundred or so perennials that I grow is beyond the scope of this web page but I have a program “George’s Perennial Guide” that supplies cultural information for the plants that I grow with photographs of each.  In this program you can select the cultural requirements and be given a list of plants that matches that criteria.  This program is for the Windows operating system and I charge $20 for the disk.

 

 

 

Some garden views 2006.06.10

 

 

 

Rhubarb - Harvested 30 lbs - Friend Vern makes some really good wine from rhubarb.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hemericalis Lillies - "Day Lillies"

 

Much of my perennial garden space is devoted to Hemericalis Lillies “ Day Lillies “.  I have been growing and hybridizing these hardy perennials for over 30 years and I have collected many varieties.  I have a preference for the hardy performers that produce an abundance of blossoms over some of the fancier varieties.  I also prefer the varieties that do not water spot significantly.  Each blossom only blooms for one day but since a single plant has several flower stalks with some varieties producing as many as 20 flowers per stalk they put on a significant display.  Different varieties bloom at different times the earliest starting in early July and some varieties still bloom after the first frost in the fall.  It is nice to have the midsummer display of these hardy plants when most of the other perennials are resting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day lilies can be transplanted, split, and or moved at any time during the growing season.  In fact I dig them while they are blooming and pot them for the following year as this allows me to identify the variety and place a marker in each pot.  I store the pots under my Maple tree which automatically deposits a leaf mulch over the pots for the winter.  I very seldom have a fatality doing this. 

 

 

 

   

 

 

Lupines "Russels Strain"
 

 

Each June on of the most important events for me is the blooming of the Russell’s Lupines.  Lupines have a long delicate tap root which if severed causes death of the plant.  For this reason they cannot be moved or transplanted.  My most successful plantings have been by seed planted at the location where they are to be grown.  They require acid soil so I add a large amount of peat moss to the soil.  Care must be taken that children do not eat the seed as they are poisonous.  The first year they produce nice foliage but do not bloom until the second year.  Lupines often survive for many years although sometimes after a profuse blooming season they die.  In the spring of each year I establish a new planting so that I always have a Lupine display.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The following are some example screens from from the program:

 

                                                           "Georges Perennial Guide"