MSU Extension Soil Web pages for Consumers

It is assumed you may grow several different kinds of vegetables in your garden and they have different needs. The recommendations are based on several commonly grown vegetables with high nutrient needs. Here is a typical example:

*For most vegetable crops, it is recommended that acid  soils be limed to pH 6.5. 

   If lime is recommended, it should be worked into the soil before planting, see adding lime. 

   When growing crops where scab is a potential problem, such as potato and radish, maintain the pH below 6.0. 

For Gardens: Avoid using lawn fertilizers containing herbicide or insecticide, ("weed'n'feed", "weed preventer", etc). 

Residues of the pesticides could potentially contaminate the food, and they can reduce seed germination or kill crop seedlings.

Fertilizer application:

     By mid-summer many crops have used the available nitrogen in the soil or it has been washed too deep by rain and irrigation.

     For these crops, it is generally beneficial to side dress* one or more times during the growing season. 

    Heavy Nitrogen Feeders (ex. peppers, eggplant, tomatoes, sweet corn)

        Incorporate about 2/3 of the nitrogen-containing fertilizer at planting.

        Then apply half the remaining third of the fertilizer by side dressing at flowering, and the rest three to four weeks later. 

        Note: Sidedressing is usually not needed when using heavy applications of manure, compost or other organic or slow-release fertilizers.

    Other Vegetable Crops (ex. cabbage family, broccoli, squash, including pumpkin)

        Incorporate about 2/3 of the nitrogen-containing fertilizer at planting.

        Then side dress once in mid-summer for later season crops or use a soluble fertilizer in water according to package instructions if you prefer.

        Note: Sidedressing is usually not needed when using heavy applications of manure, compost or other organic or slow-release fertilizers.

    Leguminous vegetables (ex. beans and peas)

        These vegetables make their own nitrogen from the air through their nodules.

        To avoid too much vegetative growth at the expense of pod-set, do not apply as much fertilizer nitrogen as for the other vegetables (skip sidedressing).

        Use a fertilizer calculator, enter your recommendation and the fertilizer you want to use, and the calculator will tell you how much to buy and apply, or Learn to calculate the amount of fertilizer that will meet the recommendations.

Lime: For most vegetable crops, it is recommended that acid  soils be limed to pH 6.5.  If lime is recommended, it should be worked into the soil before planting, see adding lime.  When growing crops where scab is a potential problem, such as potato and radish, maintain the pH below 6.0.  When lime is needed for those crops, do not exceed 80 lbs of lime per 1000 sq ft at any one time and apply it in the fall.