Prime Growing Season

We are now well into the prime growing season for both vegetables and flowers.

Mother Nature seems to be providing adequate water so far. And while we’ve been tending to get June’s weather in April and April’s in June, the heat seems to be back on.

There is one matter that needs tending to as a result: feeding these rapidly growing plants.

An adequate supply of nutrients is extremely important now because the spring rains and any additional watering are leaching some of the nutrients out of the soil and the plants are using up the balance. In order to assure large flowers and abundant veggies some of these nutrients need replacing.

Some gardeners approach this problem by incorporating time-released fertilizers into the soil or planter at the beginning of the season. After this, they need not worry about further feeding unless minor supplemental feeding is needed.

Others apply a granular fertilizer at planting time. Once complete, they then supplement through the growing season with occasional applications of liquid fertilizers—such as fish emulsion, kelp extracts, compost teas products or chemical fertilizers like Miracle-Gro—which are absorbed by both the foliage and root system.

There is however, a third alternative for feeding established plants. It’s called side dressing.

Side dressing is easy, inexpensive and the results will benefit most plantings well into the fall. Either a chemical or organic product can be used for this method.

Crops that especially like side dressing are the modern bedding annuals (they are often referred to as “hungry” and include but aren’t limited to geraniums, petunias, verbena and more), hybrid roses, and vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, cucumbers and other vine crops.

For sweet corn, side dressing is practically a must. Cucumbers will give you a hint on when to side dress them, as will some squash and melons. The plants seem to stand straight up and just begin to blossom.

This is the time to side dress because you can still get within 4 to 6 inches of the stem. If you don’t side dress at this time, the next time you see the plant, it will probably be lying down and running its vines along the ground. Your chance to get close enough to the stem and near the feeding roots will be lost. However, you can still side dress when the vines are on the ground by simply lifting them aside. The fertilizer should not be placed at the stem but several inches away.

Onions especially benefit from side dressing. If you side dress them when they are about 6 to 8 inches tall and then again when they are a foot or so high, they will produce high-quality, big bulbs.

A balanced commercial fertilizer such as 5-10-10 is probably the most effective and cheapest route to go. This formulation will do well for both veggies and flowers. Remember though that this is a chemical, a salt, and overdoing it will burn the roots; so be conservative unless you’re an experienced gardener.

You can also use organic materials such as bone meal, cottonseed meal, compost, dried- or well-rotted manures, teas or any of the newer organic fertilizers. But remember that organic fertilizers release their nutrients somewhat slowly. If that’s an issue for you, several 50-percent organic fertilizers are available, including 50-percent organic 5-10-5.

In one way the organics are much safer because they can’t burn like straight chemical fertilizers. And organics are naturally time-released.

Fresh manure should never be used, as it may burn the root system and contain harmful pathogens. Compost teas are the new kid on the block and they can act as effective nutrients as well as biostimulants.

To side dress single plants—such as tomatoes, peppers, eggplants—or a hill of plants—such as melons or cucumbers—circular side dressing is the easiest method and it works the best.

Dig, spade or trowel a circular trench 1 to 3 inches deep, about 4 to 6 inches away from the stem of the plant (at the drip line of ornamentals such as roses). Place approximately 2 to 3 tablespoons of commercial fertilizer (5-10-10 or 5-10-5, which you may be able to find as a 50-percent organic product, or one cup of organic fertilizer) in a band in the circular trench. Then cover with a couple inches of soil.

The soil on top of the fertilizer allows the soil microbes, which add in the breakdown of the nutrients, to come into direct contact with the fertilizer. If you are using manure tea or compost tea, you can simply make your application on and around the plants without the need to do any digging, trenching or covering.

To side dress crops planted in rows, dig a trench 1 to 3 inches deep along either side of the row, again at the leaf drip line. Sprinkle a band of fertilizer in the trench, using 2 to 4 cups per 100 running feet of row. If using composted manures, lay the manure about 1 inch deep along the trench. Cover with soil.

With both techniques, circular or row, you must be careful not to place commercial (chemical) fertilizer too close to the roots or on the leaves of the plant because it can burn both foliage and sensitive root hairs. If using a high-analysis liquid fertilizer, such as Miracle-Gro, never make your applications on very hot days or in full bright sunlight in the heat of the day.

The best time to apply chemical liquid fertilizers is early in the day or late in the day when the sun isn’t at its strongest. With aged manure, bone meal or cottonseed meal—any of the organics—you never have this problem.

Now in addition to giving your garden plants the additional nutrition they need at this time of the year, you should also consider making your garden work hard for you by using the gardening space wisely.

Many garden vegetables and some annuals are called “short season” because they mature in 30 to 60 days after they’ve been planted. Some of these are the dwarf marigolds and zinnias, as well as leaf lettuce, radishes, beets, beans, peas, carrots and spinach.

Once you’ve finished harvesting or enjoying the flowers, don’t delay pulling out the faded plants. Plant another short-season crop that you’ll be able to harvest in the fall, thereby doubling the yield of the same piece of land.

Some other short-season crops, such as early cabbage, cauliflower and loose-head lettuce, are set out as plants but not for another month or so. Many of these are ready for harvest only a month or two after they’ve gone into the garden.

After you harvest a cauliflower or head lettuce, pull up the whole plant and put it on your compost pile. Then spade up the soil and add a teaspoon or so of fertilizer and plant something else in its place.

You can put in another short-season vegetable transplant: a few onion sets, some carrot seeds, or even some fall-blooming flowers. Use anything that strikes your fancy, as long as there are enough days left in the season for whatever you plant to mature. For example, head lettuce can grow among broccoli, or marigolds with the cabbages, making a handsome garden patchwork quilt.

Keep growing.