How to Fertilize Corn in Square Foot Gardening

You want sweet juicy corn slathered in butter until it runs down your chin -- and here's how to get it. Corn requires almost four times as much nitrogen fertilizer as other vegetables, and this element is even more important in a square-foot garden where the corn is competing for nutrients. Follow proper soil fertilization techniques for all the corn you could possibly need, and invite your neighbors for a big corn roast this fall.

Ammonium nitrate or nitrate of soda

Soil test

10-10-10 fertilizer

Gloves

Cultivator

Rake

Buy a soil test to test the soil's pH level. Before you fertilize, make sure that the pH level is between 6 and 6.8 for the fertilizer to be as effective as possible. Complete the test and amend the soil as directed.

Cultivate the soil in the garden as deeply as you can. Stir in 10-10-10 or 20-10-10 fertilizer at the ratio of one-half oz. per square foot. Mix this in so that it is distributed evenly throughout the top foot of the soil. Rake the soil until smooth. Broadcast one-half oz. of fertilizer per square foot over the top of the soil. Try to distribute it evenly over the surface. Water the soil gently until all the fertilizer has disappeared. Wait three hours before planting.

Dig four rows of one-inch deep holes. Pour water into the holes. Push a bean seed into the soil to a depth of one inch. In the next hole, plant a corn seed to a depth of one inch. Continue planting, alternating beans and corn until all the holes are filled. Cover the seeds with soil. Water the seeds until the soil is damp two inches down. This companion planting is beneficial in square foot gardens because beans put nitrogen back into the soil, which the corn can use. Meanwhile, the corn acts as a support for the beans. The added bonus is that you get two crops in the same space that you would normally get only one.

Push dirt around the corn stalk as it grows to keep it stable and ensure proper root development. Apply a balanced water-soluble fertilizer, such as 10-10-10, every two weeks to keep feeding the corn.

Side dress the corn by putting one tbs. of ammonium nitrate or nitrate of soda three inches from the corn stalk when stalks are 16 to 18 inches tall. Water until the fertilizer has disappeared. This will give corn the boost it needs before pollination and ear development.

Natural fertilizers such as blood meal and fish meal are also high in nitrogen and can be used as a replacement for chemical fertilizer. Aged manure, peat and compost can also be used.

Soaking your seeds overnight helps them germinate faster.

Compost, peat and manure must be at least six months old to make sure they don't burn the plants.

Wear gloves when handling chemical fertilizers, and a mask to avoid inhaling the fertilizer dust.