How to Side-Dress Your Vegetable Garden
Some garden vegetable plants and soil types require a consistent side-dressing of fertilizer throughout the growing season. To side-dress vegetable plants, you apply fertilizer to the soil on or around the sides of the plant. This practice is especially important in gardens with sandy soils that don't hold nutrients well, and during growth spurts when plants require lots of nutrients.
Side dressing takes little effort, and the payoff is a bountiful harvest. Keep these pointers in mind for side-dressing your vegetable garden:
Depending on plant spacing, side-dress either in a narrow furrow down a row or around each individual plant. In either case, spread granular fertilizer (which is easier to use than liquid fertilizer) at least 6 to 8 inches away from plant stems. Rake the fertilizer into the soil and then water.
Granular organic fertilizers, such as 5-5-5, are a good choice for side-dressing most root and fruiting crops. Use 1 to 2 tablespoons per plant, or 1 to 2 pounds for every 25 feet in a row.
For leafy green crops, fish emulsion is a quick-acting, highly soluble organic source of nitrogen that gives your greens a boost, especially if they're turning a pale green color. You can add micronutrients to this fertilizer by mixing it with seaweed. Add this liquid fertilizer to your watering can following the directions on the label. As you water, pour this solution around the bases of the plants and on the leaves.
Too much fertilizer can be more harmful than too little. Excess fertilizer accumulates in the soil in the form of salts and damages plant roots. So be sure that growing conditions enable plants to use the fertilizer that you apply. For example, don't add fertilizer during a dry spell if you can't irrigate your garden, because without adequate soil moisture, roots can't take up nutrients. And if cool weather causes your plants to grow slowly and need less fertilizer, go easy on the fertilizer until the temperature warms up or you'll be wasting it.
The kind of plants that you grow makes a difference in how often you side-dress. Plants that take a long time to mature (such as tomatoes and eggplants) and heavy feeders (like corn) generally benefit more from side-dressing than quick-maturing crops that fix their own nitrogen — such as lettuce, or legumes like peas and beans.
When to Side-Dress Vegetable Plants
| Vegetable |
When to Side-Dress |
| Beans, green |
Not necessary |
| Beet greens |
Two weeks after leaves appear |
| Beets |
When tops are 4 to 5 inches high; go light on nitrogen, which
encourages leaf growth |
| Broccoli |
Three weeks after transplant; go light on nitrogen |
| Brussels sprouts |
Three weeks after transplant; again when sprouts begin to
appear |
| Cabbage |
Four to six weeks after planting |
| Carrots |
Three weeks after plants are well established and no longer
seedlings |
| Cauliflower |
Four to six weeks after planting |
| Celery |
Three weeks after setting out; again six weeks later |
| Corn, sweet |
Three weeks after planting; again when plants are 8 to10 inches
high; again when tassels appear |
| Cucumbers |
When they first begin to run (form vines and sprawl);
again when blossoms set |
| Eggplant |
Three weeks after planting |
| Kale |
When plants are 6 to 8 inches tall |
| Lettuce, head |
Three weeks after transplant; again when heads form |
| Lettuce, leaf |
Three weeks after germination |
| Melons |
When they begin to run; again a week after blossom set; again
three weeks later |
| Onions |
Three weeks after planting; again when tops are 6 to 8 inches
tall; again when bulbs start to swell |
| Peas, English |
Not necessary |
| Peppers, sweet and hot |
Three weeks after transplant; again after first fruit set |
| Potatoes |
When plants bloom |
| Pumpkin |
When plants start to run; again at blossom set |
| Radishes |
Not necessary |
| Spinach |
When plants are about 3 to 4 inches tall |
| Squash, summer |
When plants are about 6 inches tall; again when they bloom |
| Squash, winter |
When plants start to run; again at blossom set |
| Swiss chard |
Three weeks after germination |
| Tomatoes |
Two to three weeks after transplant; again before first
picking; again two weeks after first picking; go light on
nitrogen |
Gardening Glossary
annuals
Plants that complete their entire life cycle within one growing season. The plant germinates from seed, grows and blooms, and then produces seed and dies.
Gardening Glossary
biennials
A plant that take two growing seasons to complete its life cycle. It germinates and grows leaves and stems in the first year; produces flowers and fruit (seed) in the second, and then dies.
Gardening Glossary
bolt
When a plant flowers or produces seed prematurely.
Gardening Glossary
cold frame
A wooden or concrete block box in which you can grow plants or hold dormant during the cold winter months.
Gardening Glossary
cole crops
A family of vegetables, including broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, kale, and Brussels sprouts. They thrive in cooler weather.
Gardening Glossary
complete fertilizer
Any fertilizer that contains all three of the primary nutrients, N-P-K (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium). Phrase is based on regulations governing the fertilizer industry. Does not mean that the fertilizer literally contains everything a plant needs to thrive.
Gardening Glossary
deadheading
The practice of pinching or cutting off spent flowers
Gardening Glossary
evaporative-pad humidifier
A humidifier in which fans blow across a moisture-laden pad that sits in a reservoir of water.
Gardening Glossary
harden off
The process of acclimating plants grown indoors gradually to the brighter light and cooler temperatures of the outside world.
Gardening Glossary
hardiness
The ability of a plant to survive is called its hardiness.
Gardening Glossary
humus
A stable end product of organic-matter decomposition that's believed to increase microbial activity in soil, improve soil structure, and enhance the root development of plants.
Gardening Glossary
Bacillus thuringiensis Bt
An effective bacteria that attacks only the larvae of caterpillar family insects. It is safe to other insects, animals, and humans.
Gardening Glossary
macronutrients
Mineral nutrients that plants need in the largest quantities: nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, magnesium, and sulfur.
Gardening Glossary
mulch
Organic or inorganic material placed over the surface of soil, usually directly over the root zone of growing plants. Used to conserve moisture, kill weed seedlings, modify soil temperature, provide attractive covering to garden beds.
Gardening Glossary
organic matter
Once-living stuff like compost, sawdust, animal manure, ground bark, grass clippings, and leaf mold (composted tree leaves). Used to enrich soil and improve soil texture.
Gardening Glossary
perennials
Any plant with a life cycle of three or more years. Herbaceous (non-woody) perennials include flowering plants and herbs, mainly. Woody perennials include trees and shrubs. Longevity depends on the plant and growing conditions.
Gardening Glossary
pH
The measure of soil's acidity. Soil with low pH means it's too acidic; soil with high pH means it's alkaline. Most plants grow best in soil with a pH value between 6.5 and 7.2. Neutral soils measure 7.
Gardening Glossary
photosynthesis
The process through which plants take nutrients from the air and from the water in the soil to produce sugars that fuels the plant's growth.
Gardening Glossary
primary nutrients
Nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium are the three nutrients plants need in the largest quantities.
Gardening Glossary
root crops
Plants with edible underground roots such as onions, carrots, beets, potatoes, turnips. Most root crops are cold-weather crops.
Gardening Glossary
self-blanching
A type of cauliflower with leaves that naturally curl over the head and exclude light. Requires cool temperatures for leaves to curl effectively.
Gardening Glossary
sets
Small onion bulbs, about 1/2-inch wide, that were started from seed the previous year. Grow onion sets with the pointy end up.
Gardening Glossary
side-dressing
The act of adding a small amount of fertilizer around or "on the side" of plants after they're growing.
Gardening Glossary
succession planting
Planting small, 2-to-4-foot patches of plants every two weeks throughout the growing season so that you can harvest a crop over an extended period of time.
Gardening Glossary
thinning
The act of cutting the least robust seedlings in your garden to give the healthier plants more room to grow.
Gardening Glossary
vining crops
Crops that grow on vines, such as cucumbers, melons, pumpkins, and winter squash. They usually require support (staking, trellising, etc.) to keep them off the ground.
