Cultivation
Side Dressing
Giving crops an extra boost of fertilizer is called side-dressing. Good side-dressing helps crops grow evenly and smoothly and helps deliver better harvests.
If you've mixed plenty of organic matter into your soil over the years and grow green manure corps like peas, beans and buckwheat, chances are your soil is pretty rich in nutrients. As long as you add a little fertilizer to the soil before planting, your crops probably will do very well without side-dressing. Two exceptions are corn and onions which are heavy feeders and almost always require side-dressing.
If you've just started to improve your soil by adding organic matter, side-dressings are important. This is especially true in a sandy soil with little organic matter. Plant foods drain down through a sandy soil and away from the roots of your crops. To keep crops growing smoothly, you'll probably need to side-dress.
Not all crops need side-dressings. Peas and beans, greens and root crops grow fine when fertilized only at planting time. Carrots, beets and turnips need only a little extra bonemeal at planting time to provide phosphorus for the roots.
Applying Side-Dressings
Side Dressings are usually applied by either circling the plants or banding.
Circle the Plants

With tomatoes, peppers, broccoli and other transplanted crops, dig a shallow circular furrow around each plant. Sprinkle the fertilizer in evenly and cover it. Put this circle of plant food about 5-6 inches away from the plant stems. If the plant is quite large, put the circle of fertilizer around the outer leaves or "drip line" of the plant.
Banding
With the corner of a hoe, open a furrow 1-2 inches deep in a straight line next to a row of plants. Keep the furrow about 5-6 inches from the line of plants. Put the fertilizer in the furrow and cover with soil. Covering the fertilizer is important because a heavy rain may splash it onto the leaves causing burns.

How to Make Compost
Start with a layer of chopped leaves, grass clippings and kitchen waste like banana peels, eggshells, old lettuce leaves, apple cores, coffee grounds, and whatever else is available. Keep adding materials until you have a six-inch layer, then cover it with three to six inches of soil, manure, or finished compost.
Alternate layers of organic matter and layers of soil or manure until the pile is about three feet tall. A pile that is three feet tall by three feet square will generate enough heat during decomposition to sterilize the compost. This makes it useful as a potting soil, topdressing for lawns, or soil-improving additive.
Your compost pile may benefit from an activator . Activators get the pile working, and speed the process. Alfalfa meal, barnyard manure, bonemeal, cottonseed meal, blood meal, and good rich compost from a finished pile are all good activators. Each time you add a layer to your pile, sprinkle on some activator and water well.
Compost Care
Keep the pile in a semi-shaded area to keep it from drying out too much. If your pile is near a tree, turn it frequently to make sure the tree roots don't grow into it. Make an indentation in the top to hold water and sprinkle with a garden hose when it appears dry. Keep it moist, but not wet. Beneficial organisms cannot survive in soggy conditions.
If your compost pile has a strong odor, try turning it more often. Odors are often caused by poor air circulation or a pile that is too tightly packed.
Using Compost
When your compost is ready, it can be mixed into the soil before planting or applied to the surface of the soil as a mulch. It's best to use it as soon as it is ready because the longer it sits, the fewer nutrients it will contain.
Quick Compost
If you need compost in a hurry, speed up the process by turning the pile with a pitchfork once a week. Mixing the compost allows oxygen into the center of the pile, where it encourages the growth of bacteria and fungi. A pile that is turned regularly will become finished compost in four to eight months. Fresh manure will activate the pile, causing it do decompose more quickly. Lime and fresh manure counteract each other, so it's best not to use both in you compost pile.
Particle size has a lot to do with the speed of decomposition. If you don't have a shredder for your leaves and small twigs, try running the lawn mower over them before you add them to the pile.
Making a Compost Bin
Many types of compost bins are available at your local garden center. Some of these have devices for turning and removing compost. Although these bins make turning easier and are more convenient, they aren't necessary. An enclosure made from chicken wire or five wood pallets (one for the bottom and one for each side) does the job just as well.
What to Compost
kitchen waste lawn clippings (use thin layers so they don't mat down) chopped leaves (large leaves take a long time to break down) shredded branches garden plants (use disease-free plants) shredded paper weeds (before they go to seed) straw or hay newspaper wood ash (sprinkle lightly between layers) hay tea leaves and coffee grounds What Not to Compost Meat scraps and fatty trash excessive wood ashes (counteracts with manures) sawdust generally slows the decomposition of the pile. Troubleshooting Guide
Symptom Cause Solution
Unpleasant odor Too much nitrogen Add high carbon material such as straw, pine needles, grass clippings or vegetable trimmings and aerate.
Compaction Aerate.
Overwatering Add dry leaves or wood chips to soak up water and aerate.
Pile not heating up Lack of nitrogen Add a nitrogen source such as fresh manure, grass clippings or blood meal. Mix the pile.
Pile needs to be turned Mix pile by bringing outside material to the center.
Low moisture When watering make sure the moisture gets to the center of the pile. Try poking deep holes in the pile before watering.
Compost is finished Finished compost smells earthy rather than rotten or moldy and is dark and crumbly.
Compost is damp and only the center is warm Pile is too small Add more compost material.

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