I love the shade. There is nothing quite so refreshing as a large shade tree in order to be able to escape the sun on a warm day. Well, guess what? Vegetables enjoy some shade as well when temperatures start to rise in May in the desert.
I was fortunate to spend Saturday at a wonderful organic vegetable farm that is covered in a canopy of large shade trees. My brother-in-law (Farmer Dad from Double S Farms) told me about it two weeks ago and I knew that was where I wanted to go for Mother’s Day.
Now, this farm is located right by a freeway that I have driven on countless times. It is actually located on the edge of an Indian reservation. You would never know that it existed – their existence is spread solely by word of mouth. They do not advertise and don’t even have a website. They provide produce to farmer’s markets as well as local restaurants.
And so our day began. I was anxious to explore this farm with my husband and kids. To be honest, I can’t think of a nicer way to spend Mother’s Day then going somewhere new with my family.
One of my first glimpses into the farm revealed numerous vegetables growing underneath large Mesquite and Palo Verde trees. I could hardly wait to get started, but first, my kids had to explore the outside of the store.
This is my son, Kai who loves to explore and is always running ahead to see what is yet to be discovered.
Such as a swing….
My three youngest children, Ruthie, Gracie & Kai. We are particularly enjoying time spent outdoors where Kai can be active since he will be having another surgery later this month which will leave him wheelchair bound for a couple of months.
The trail beckoned us onwards.
Now, like most boys, Kai loves to run ahead of us wherever we go. It is sometimes a chore to keep him close by. But here, he was free to explore on up ahead of us. As we caught up to him, we found him exiting an Indian tepee.
Even though the temperatures were quite warm, it was very comfortable throughout the farm because most of it was covered in shade.
Tomato plants were flourishing underneath this Mesquite tree.
Then we came upon a group of perennials growing. I didn’t tell my daughter, Ruthie what it was but told her to rub the leaves between her fingers and then to smell them.
She was quite surprised to find out that mint comes from a plant. You know, I just love how much kids can learn from visiting a farm.
Now, I have no idea what these plants are…..can someone enlighten me?
Although we saw many types of vegetables and herbs being grown, there were some unusual things that we came across.
For example, three Mariachi singers were performing in the middle of the garden….
This scarecrow would have scared my daughter, Gracie, but luckily she did not see it.
An open area by the store boasted an adobe oven.
There was even a place for Gracie to have a talk with her dad under the shade of the trees.
As we neared the end of our visit, we noticed something lurking
outside of the chicken coop…
It was a beautiful peacock, furtively sneaking about. As we got closer, we saw the reason why….
This pretty female peacock was inside of the chicken coop and he was stuck outside 😉
On our way back to the entrance, we walked by some huge cabbage.
And beautiful Artichokes…
At the end, we finished off our visit at the little store. I was surprised when I walked inside to discover that the floor was dirt.
Vegetables and herbs of all sorts were available for sale.
But I think the favorite part was the free bread and butter samples that my kids enjoyed.
In addition to the little store, there were also some plants available for sale along with fish fertilizer.
One of the most popular things about this farm, is their compost. You can come and get compost in a burlap bag for $16 or a load in the back of your truck for $40. I will definitely be getting my compost from them in the future.
I had an absolutely wonderful Mother’s Day on Saturday at the farm.
Me and my kids.
Rachele, me, my son-in-law Jeff, Brittney
Gracie, Kai and Ruthie.
I hope you all had a great Mother’s Day.
**For those of you who would like to visit Singh Farms. They are located on the northeast corner of Thomas Rd. and the 101 Freeway in Scottsdale. They are open only on Saturday mornings from 8:00 to 1:00.
It is a wonderful place to visit.
A Saguaro With A Skin Condition?
ArizonaWhen people think of the desert southwest, images of snakes, tumbleweed and of course, the iconic Saguaro cactus come to mind.
It really is an amazing cactus. I remember the first time I saw them…..I was driving along the highway from California into Arizona and as soon as we crossed the border, there they were. They almost do not look real, but believe me they are. And they do hurt if you happen to get to close to one of their spines…I know this from personal experience.
Desert Southwest
What happened was that I was not careful enough with some young saguaro cacti that I had in my plant nursery and pricked my thumb – I confess that I am somewhat clumsy. But in my line of work as a horticulturist, this had happened countless times with no ill effects.
Well, a couple of days later, my thumb was getting huge and very sore. It was hard to even use my hand. We were visiting my parents in Los Angeles and so my husband took me to the ER, where I was put on antibiotics. To be honest, I felt rather stupid having to take pills for such a little thing. But, cacti spines can carry some harmful bacteria, so it is wise to be careful around them.
If you have driven around the desert lately, you may have notice little bumps covering the tops of many saguaro cacti. Now, initially you may think it looks like they are suffering from a case of bad acne.
But, these bumps are not a cacti’s version of pimples. Actually these bumps are harboring a beautiful surprise….flowers!
In just a week or two, saguaros everywhere will be covered with beautiful, large white flowers.
I can’t wait to share them with you….
**We are celebrating our son’s 8th birthday today at the park and enjoying the beautiful weather. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and are able to spend some time outdoors.
My Favorite Pastime….Shopping For Plants!
Arizona, Arizona gardenWell, the title says it all. I love plants and shopping. Pair those two things together and I am in heaven.
Back when I managed landscapes, I had a company credit card which allowed me to purchase to my heart’s content….okay not really, I did have to stay within my plant budget, but it was so nice to spend someone else’s money.
My most recent journey into the plant shopping occurred last week with my mother, Pastor Farmer of Double S Farms. She was purchasing some trees for their farm and wanted my assistance in selecting them. And so, we journeyed to a local nursery (not a big box store).
Plant shop
Now this particular nursery is not what I would call a native plant nursery, although they do carry many native plants. But they also sell tropical plants that thrive in our semi-tropical climate. You can see Gabriel coming up to help us to tag the trees we selected.
On our way to the tree section, we passed a mass of Bougainvilleas. It looked like a Bougainvillea forest.
Plant shop
Then we passed through the shaded area of the nursery where frost-tender tropical and shade-loving plants were kept.
Plant shop
Now, we were beginning to get into the tree section of the nursery.
You may have noticed that my pictures are taken from behind my mother and our helper, Gabriel. Well, put me anywhere with plants….a nursery, a garden, it doesn’t matter – I will always be lagging behind as I love to look, touch and take pictures of plants.
We passed the flowering Palo Verde trees….
We passed some Olive trees….
Did you know that the pollen of the Olive tree is highly allergenic? It’s true. Actually, because of this, you can only plant a certain variety of Olive tree in our area, called ‘Swan Hill Olives’®, that do not produce pollen and therefore do not produce any flowers.
The ‘Swan Hill’ cultivar was found in Australia years ago from a 30 year-old Olive tree that had never fruited. It is an interesting story and you can read more about it here.
Okay, back to our search for our tree. Well, I wish I could say that I had a great picture to show you of the Chilean Mesquite (Prosopis chilensis) tree we selected. But, it turns out that I was so busy helping to select the tree, I forgot to take pictures of it.
On our way out, I did take pictures of a bunch of Sago Palms (Cycas revoluta), which aren’t actually palms at all, they are cycads. They grow extremely well here, but must be protected from full sun or their fronds turn yellow from sunburn.
Well, we were at the end of our plant shopping journey, or so I thought….
As my mother was paying for the trees, I noticed one of the resident chickens.
Can you see her? She is poking around the base of this plant fountain.
**By the way, I think I would love to have a plant fountain someday 🙂
One of the employees noticed my interest in the chicken and motioned me over to the side of the building, where on a potting table, there was a large container. I looked inside and saw how busy the chicken had been….
Every afternoon, at about 4:00, she sits up there and lays another egg.
Now, the father, is no absentee father. He takes his job very seriously. He was keeping a keen eye on us until we left the nursery.
Well, I had a wonderful time, I just love visiting local nurseries.
We selected some beautiful trees and the new Mesquite tree will grow very quickly and will be quite large. Pastor Farmer envisions having an old tire swing being put up in the tree in a few years for the grandkids to play on.
Beauty In The Desert….
desertAs I have mentioned before, I am not a desert native….I grew up near the ocean. To me, the desert was a brown place where prickly cactus and coyotes lived.
Well, I have now lived in the desert for almost 24 years and I have found out that the desert is brown, there are cactus and I have seen my share of coyotes. But, I have also discovered that the desert is so much more then what my previous stereotype was.
Last week, I was visiting a client in the outskirts of the Phoenix metro area. Her home was located in the foothills of the desert. The plants and scenery around there were just breathtaking.
Thankfully, I had my camera with me that day and I would like to share with you some of what I saw….
Plants and scenery
The homes are set against the backdrop of beautiful mountains.
Blue Palo Verde (Parkinsonia floridium) were in full bloom against the blue sky.
Buckhorn Cholla were covered with unopened buds just beginning to open….
It sometimes hard to believe that something so prickly can produce such beautiful flowers.
I met a little friend, a Gambel’s Quail, perched atop of a mailbox.
One of my favorite shrubs, Chaparral Sage (Salvia clevelandii), was beginning to flower. The foliage is very fragrant and I have a small one in my own garden that I just planted recently.
The familiar desert shrub, Creosote (Larrea tridentata), was flowering along with their fuzzy covered seedpods.
Desert Marigold (Baileya multiradiata) brightens the desert with their yellow blooms. They self seed very easily and you can help the process by collecting the seed heads from spent flowers, like the one(s) above.
Many different types of Prickly Pear were in full bloom.
It never ceases to amaze me that the beauty of a plant is often in the small details.
The bright colors of Globe Mallow (Sphaeralcea ambigua) were on display.
Okay, I have save the best for last. I was just about ready to pack my camera away and head for home when I saw a beautiful Snapdragon Penstemon (Penstemon palmeri). Unlike the more common Parry’s & Firecracker Penstemon that are found in the landscape, Snapdragon Penstemon is not found often in our area although it does very well and is native to Arizona and other southwest states.
It is a large perennial – it can grow 4 to 5 ft. tall. Native to the desert southwest, it does best in areas with low rainfall.
Unlike many Penstemons, this one is lightly fragrant.
Thank you for joining me in viewing some of the beautiful sights from my visit last week. In closing, I would like to share with you my favorite photo, which is a close-up picture of Snapdragon Penstemon flowers.
Have a great day!
Beautiful Desert Sunset…..Storm Clouds On The Horizon
May’s MGB…..Monthly Garden Bouquet
AZ Plant LadyIt is time again for the Monthly Garden Bouquet. It is hard to believe that May is already more then halfway through.
My bouquet for this month is made up of only two different flowers. Both flowers are from plants that will soon stop blooming and I wanted to be able to share their blossoms with you before they are gone.
It is a very simple bouquet as are most of my previous ones.
I actually used small branches from my flowering Palo Verde tree along with the last of my Firecracker Penstemon blooms.
As you can plainly see, this bouquet is quite simple, but I do love how it shows the beauty of both of these flowers. It is also so nice to have this bouquet to look back on later this year and be reminded of what my garden has in store for me next spring 🙂
You can view two of my previous entries here
if you like.
If you would like to participate in MGB, here are the guidelines….
1. MGB is held the third week of each month and bouquets can be submitted during a 7 day period (or even later if you like).
2. Create your own bouquet as fancy or simple as you like.
3. I would appreciate it if you would provide a link back to my post inside of your MGB post, but it is not required 🙂
4. Add your link to Mr. Linky below and that’s it!
I cannot wait to see what bouquets you create from your spring gardens.
Have a great week!
May Garden Blogger’s Bloom Day is Here!
Flowering AnnualsI just love this time of month, when it is time to show what is blooming in my garden. Spring has definitely sprung and most of my plants are flowering, although there are a few holdouts.
First, are the blooms that will soon be ending as we move into the summer months.
My Valentine shrub has been blooming reliable since December. Normally the blooms end in April, but our cooler then normal spring has helped to keep them blooming longer.
Valentine (Eremophila maculata ‘Valentine’)
My Globe Mallow had been pruned back, but now has had a second flush of bloom.
Globe Mallow (Sphaeralcea ambigua)
My Geraniums that I transplanted to the vegetable garden are still blooming, but warmer temperatures will soon stop the flowers from coming until fall arrives.
And my last winter/spring bloomer….my Firecracker Penstemon. I had pruned back the dead flowers in late March and have been rewarded with a second flush of bloom.
Firecracker Penstemon (Penstemon eatonii)
Now for some new spring/summer bloomers…..
One of my favorite flowering trees, Desert Willow, is covered in pink blossoms.
Desert Willow (Chilopsis linearis)
Desert Marigold, a perennial which is often grown as a annual wildflower, are beginning to make their appearance in my garden. They self-seed and I allow them to come up in certain areas.
Desert Marigold (Baileya multiradiata)
And last, but not least….my favorite flowering tree, the ‘Desert Museum’ Palo Verde.
‘Desert Museum’ Palo Verde (Parkinsonia hybrid ‘Desert Museum’)
I hope you have enjoyed this blooming tour of my garden. Please visit May Dreams Gardens to see other Garden Blogger Bloom Day participants.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Natural Beauty Without The Fuss…
Arizona gardenYou know how some people are described as ‘natural beauties’? They look great without makeup and their hair only pulled up into a ponytail. Well, I am not describing myself. It takes some work in front of the mirror before I will venture outside 😉
But, I absolutely love using plants that are what I would call ‘natural beauties’ because they look great without having to fuss over them. Now, I do love to be out in the garden, but I do not particularly like digging, dividing, pruning and deadheading often – especially in the summer months. And so, many of the plants in my garden are ‘natural beauties’. They look fantastic with minimal effort.
I would like to share with you, periodically, some of my favorite ‘natural beauties’. Today, I would like to introduce you to Yellow Bells (Tecoma stans var. stans).
One look at this picture and it is easy to see why I love this shrub so much. They are covered with gorgeous yellow flowers from April to October.
Yellow Bells grows into a large shrub (6 ft. high and 4 ft. wide), with beautiful leaves and clusters of yellow, trumpet shaped flowers.
Interestingly, even though hummingbirds usually flock to flowers with red, orange and purple flowers….they can’t get enough of my Yellow Bell flowers.
I do not fertilize my Yellow Bells shrubs or give them any special treatment. They have not been bothered by pests of any kind.
You can find them growing in many tropical and semi-tropical areas such as the southeastern areas of the United States, Central America and in the Caribbean.
They are somewhat susceptible to frost (hardy to zone 8), and mine suffers damage to the tips of the branches. As a result, the only maintenance that I perform is an annual pruning in spring, once the threat of frost is over.
A plant like this has a prominent place in my garden and provides beautiful color throughout the summer, when I tend to hibernate inside within the comforts of my air-conditioned house. I do venture out into the garden in the mornings and evenings when the temperatures are cooler to do some work. I much prefer looking through my window at my ‘natural beauties’.
I hope you enjoyed my first ‘natural beauty’ post. I will be featuring more in the future.
What ‘natural beauties’ do you have growing in your garden?
Evenings in the Garden….
Arizona, Arizona garden, Double S FarmsI am very blessed to have my mother and my sister live very close to me. However, this was not always so. Twenty-four years ago, I moved to Arizona from California as a new bride. The rest of my family remained in California. Of course, there were many visits back and forth. But I never really knew how wonderful it could be to have them living close by. Until about 3 years ago.
My sister and her family along with my mother purchased Double S Farms just over a year ago and so began a weekly tradition of us having dinner over there once a week. I always look forward to this day because for one, I don’t have to cook dinner – but more importantly, it is a wonderful time of visiting with my mom and sister.
With our beautiful weather, we have recently been eating outside in the backyard, surrounded by their garden full of flowers, the vegetables, the fruit trees and some feathered visitors.
Each week, as soon as we drive up, I love to check to see how the fruit trees are doing in the front garden. It looks like the peaches will soon be ready…
My son is always the first to reach the front door and upon entering the house, he is promptly wrestled to the floor by his two little cousins (Little Farmer and Littlest Farmer).
Each week, my mom (Pastor Farmer) always cooks something new for us to try along with fresh-baked bread. We love to eat outside and enjoy the sunset and our food.
Beautiful weather
Then it is time for the kids to play and the adults to sit back and relax in the garden.
Of course, there are usually new vegetables to check out….
As well as seeing how the apples are growing on the trees….
The kids love to play as well on the cool, green grass.
Beautiful weather
About this time, the newest residents of Double S Farms come out of their chicken coop to come and visit.
Ramona is the first to come out to visit.
Followed by Flo.
By the way, did you know that chickens like macaroni & cheese? Well, these chickens do…
Especially Lucy.
We enjoy watching all of the chickens and their antics. But, our favorite is Effie.
Now, Effie will not win any chicken beauty contest. She is decidedly awkward looking and has fluffy cheeks. But, it is her personality that is so endearing. She is very friendly and lets us all hold and pet her – even the kids.
Effie is not camera shy, like Flo can be and the other day, she hopped onto my sister’s (Chicken Farmer), lap and promptly lay her head down and fell asleep.
Not to be outdone by some chickens, Double S Farm’s resident hummingbird, Jose, makes an appearance as we eat our dinner.
The sun is setting and it is time to go home.
I hope you have enjoyed our evening visit to Double S Farms.
Good Night….
A Vegetable Garden, Revisited….
Vegetable GardeningWell, I have to admit, that in the past, I did not truly understand the allure of vegetable gardening. Sure, I had to grow my own plot of vegetables in college for my horticulture class – but that was for a grade. I also dutifully helped people create their own gardens, but I never had one for myself.
That was then, and this is now….I am completely hooked on vegetable gardening! Each morning, I go out to see how my plants are doing and the kids hurry home for school and check to see if there have been any changes. Their favorite thing to do is to find the newly ripened cherry tomatoes to eat – they never make it to our salads.
Vegetable gardening
I just love this view outside of my family room window. I can see the tops of my corn just over the fence and my flowering Palo Verde in the background. The Palo Verde flowers are providing a nice layer of mulch for my garden.
At first, it seemed like it was taking a long time for my small plants to begin growing. I celebrated each time a tiny seedling germinated, but it seemed to take a while for them to really get going. But, that is probably because I was watching them so closely every day, which reminds me of the saying “A watched pot never boils.”
That is where pictures help to provide a healthy dose of reality for me. Below, is a picture I took of our little garden, just two weeks after planting from seed….
Vegetable gardening
*The transplants in the seed trays were for an upcoming service project and I also gave some to my mother for her garden.
Now, I know that I did not organize my plantings very well and probably have done quite a few things wrong, but that is what is fun about gardening. You can learn so much just by doing. For example, you should have three rows of corn in order for them to pollinate each other. Since I do not have that much corn, I will have the kids help with the pollination, so they can learn even more about how things grow.
That is where pictures help to provide a healthy dose of reality for me. Below, is a picture I took of our little garden, just two weeks after planting from seed….
*The transplants in the seed trays were for an upcoming service project and I also gave some to my mother for her garden.
Now, I know that I did not organize my plantings very well and probably have done quite a few things wrong, but that is what is fun about gardening. You can learn so much just by doing. For example, you should have three rows of corn in order for them to pollinate each other. Since I do not have that much corn, I will have the kids help with the pollination, so they can learn even more about how things grow.
Below is a picture taken two weeks ago of my tomato plant in the right back corner and there is such a difference.
You can see above my tomato plant has grown quite a bit in just four weeks and I have pumpkin growing in the foreground ( I realize that we sowed the pumpkin seedlings too early and will probably have pumpkins this summer, but the kids were so excited to grow some right now).
Now, come see the garden at just six weeks after sowing the seeds. I must admit, that I am a little bit proud of our garden 🙂
The corn is now taller then the fence and I can see the corn flower starting to emerge.
Our single tomato plant is growing so beautifully and produces quite a few tomatoes for us. I will be planting a lot more tomato plants next time – maybe give each of the kids their own plant.
Our climate is ideal for growing watermelon and I cannot wait to see the flowers start to appear on our watermelon plants.
The flowers are starting to appear on our cucumber plants.
I love the large leaves of the pumpkin plant.
My tiny oregano plant is starting to look more like a little plant then just a couple of leaves. *This is a macro-view and the plant is actually still quite small.
You can tell that I have already started to use some of my basil 🙂
My sunflowers are starting to grow tall.
And I can see that flowers are almost ready to appear….
Some years, it seems that we go straight from winter into summer and skip over spring. But this year, we have had a lovely spring, but now that temperatures are climbing into the 90’s, I have covered some of the garden in shade cloth (the corn are too tall and do not require shade). This helps to protect the leaves and vegetables from becoming sunburned.
My daughter, Ruthie, is so proud of our little garden and made me a sign for the garden for Mother’s Day. She cut it out of wood (with her dad’s help) and painted it for me.
Thank you so much for letting me show you how our garden is growing.
I will post another update soon, probably as soon as I see some flowers.
Have a great day!
Made In The Shade….
Double S FarmsI love the shade. There is nothing quite so refreshing as a large shade tree in order to be able to escape the sun on a warm day. Well, guess what? Vegetables enjoy some shade as well when temperatures start to rise in May in the desert.
I was fortunate to spend Saturday at a wonderful organic vegetable farm that is covered in a canopy of large shade trees. My brother-in-law (Farmer Dad from Double S Farms) told me about it two weeks ago and I knew that was where I wanted to go for Mother’s Day.
Now, this farm is located right by a freeway that I have driven on countless times. It is actually located on the edge of an Indian reservation. You would never know that it existed – their existence is spread solely by word of mouth. They do not advertise and don’t even have a website. They provide produce to farmer’s markets as well as local restaurants.
And so our day began. I was anxious to explore this farm with my husband and kids. To be honest, I can’t think of a nicer way to spend Mother’s Day then going somewhere new with my family.
One of my first glimpses into the farm revealed numerous vegetables growing underneath large Mesquite and Palo Verde trees. I could hardly wait to get started, but first, my kids had to explore the outside of the store.
This is my son, Kai who loves to explore and is always running ahead to see what is yet to be discovered.
Such as a swing….
My three youngest children, Ruthie, Gracie & Kai. We are particularly enjoying time spent outdoors where Kai can be active since he will be having another surgery later this month which will leave him wheelchair bound for a couple of months.
The trail beckoned us onwards.
Now, like most boys, Kai loves to run ahead of us wherever we go. It is sometimes a chore to keep him close by. But here, he was free to explore on up ahead of us. As we caught up to him, we found him exiting an Indian tepee.
Even though the temperatures were quite warm, it was very comfortable throughout the farm because most of it was covered in shade.
Tomato plants were flourishing underneath this Mesquite tree.
Then we came upon a group of perennials growing. I didn’t tell my daughter, Ruthie what it was but told her to rub the leaves between her fingers and then to smell them.
She was quite surprised to find out that mint comes from a plant. You know, I just love how much kids can learn from visiting a farm.
Now, I have no idea what these plants are…..can someone enlighten me?
Although we saw many types of vegetables and herbs being grown, there were some unusual things that we came across.
For example, three Mariachi singers were performing in the middle of the garden….
This scarecrow would have scared my daughter, Gracie, but luckily she did not see it.
An open area by the store boasted an adobe oven.
There was even a place for Gracie to have a talk with her dad under the shade of the trees.
As we neared the end of our visit, we noticed something lurking
outside of the chicken coop…
It was a beautiful peacock, furtively sneaking about. As we got closer, we saw the reason why….
This pretty female peacock was inside of the chicken coop and he was stuck outside 😉
On our way back to the entrance, we walked by some huge cabbage.
And beautiful Artichokes…
At the end, we finished off our visit at the little store. I was surprised when I walked inside to discover that the floor was dirt.
Vegetables and herbs of all sorts were available for sale.
But I think the favorite part was the free bread and butter samples that my kids enjoyed.
In addition to the little store, there were also some plants available for sale along with fish fertilizer.
One of the most popular things about this farm, is their compost. You can come and get compost in a burlap bag for $16 or a load in the back of your truck for $40. I will definitely be getting my compost from them in the future.
I had an absolutely wonderful Mother’s Day on Saturday at the farm.
Me and my kids. Rachele, me, my son-in-law Jeff, Brittney Gracie, Kai and Ruthie.
I hope you all had a great Mother’s Day.
**For those of you who would like to visit Singh Farms. They are located on the northeast corner of Thomas Rd. and the 101 Freeway in Scottsdale. They are open only on Saturday mornings from 8:00 to 1:00.
It is a wonderful place to visit.
Very, Vibrant Vinca…
Arizona garden, Containers, desert gardening, Flowering AnnualsVibrant blooms, Annual Vinca (Catharanthus roseus)
One of my favorite summer annuals is vinca.
Stop by any nursery this time of year, and you will find flats full of their vibrant blooms, and there are many different colors available.
From purples and pinks to bright reds.
Vinca works excellent in containers or when planted in the ground. They prefer well-drained soil in a warm, sunny area.
This warm-season annual enjoys regular watering and does best with some fertilizer, but don’t overdo it. I usually apply a slow-release fertilizer when planting and follow up with monthly applications of a liquid fertilizer such as Miracle-Gro. If you want to go organic, then you can just use a mixture of good potting soil mixed with compost.
Now some of you may have had the experience of growing beautiful vinca one year and the next year; you have a terrible time with them. Shortly after planting you notice your vinca beginning to wilt, and no amount of water seems to help.
Has this happened to you? Extra water will not help because the vinca is suffering from a case of ‘Vinca Wilt’. This is not the scientific term, but for those of you who like long scientific names, your vinca is likely the victim of a Phytophthora fungus, which affects the roots, preventing them from absorbing water – hence the dried out look of the vinca.
This fungus lives in the soil and infects the roots, causing them to rot. It loves moist conditions, and so more water hastens the demise of vinca.
So, what can you do? The fungal spores can last for months or even years in the soil. You can usually rely on one good year of vinca growth, but then the spores start to multiply, and by the next year, they begin to affect your new plants.
I recommend using vinca for one year and then use something different the next three years. Of course, you can remove all the soil from your containers and sterilize the inside with a bleach water mixture and then add new soil, which can work for a few containers at home, but it is not cost-effective in a larger setting. For me, it is not worth it either, because there are so many other beautiful summer annuals that you can use.
I hope this solves any mystery surrounding vinca. They are beautiful and well worth growing – for a year at least.