they are plants.. not children.. they do not need to be fed ... ever ...

as marie noted.. they need to settle their roots in .. and get that all set up.. before they start growing above ... and that will take this season.. and maybe part of next.. depending on how well they were planted ... and your aftercare ..

proper watering is all they need this year ...

ken

qwert, you should never force accelerated growth upon your plants, but allow them to grow at their natural pace. At some point, probably next year, you can think about applying fertilizer, but they truly don't need it this year.

If you force a lot of vegetative growth now, you will be doing so at the sacrifice of healthy and substantial root development. Believe me, you want your new plants to devote their energy resources into making lots of roots.

Fertilization frequency is determined by your location, soil type, climate and rainfall, existing soil nutrient availability, etc. You will have to decide what you are going to use dependent upon those factors. We cannot decide for you.

Whatever you end up using, please know that less is best for the plant.

....and I may as well add, for the vast majority of plants on this earth, nutrient acquisition is not accomplished via a human applying fertilizer to the soil. Instead, plants "figured out" a long time ago that by partnering with certain species of soil fungi, the fungi would far more efficiently extract these mineral nutrients from the soil, asking for nothing in return save carbohydrates to live on! So, I do realize we mostly don't think of our yards as natural systems. But even that paradigm may be slowly changing. And fertilizing a system having these helpful fungi actually diminishes this process almost completely, if not so. In other words, if you would seek to promote this process, you'd be further ahead to add organic matter to the system, mostly via surface mulching, and withhold fertilizer. As is true in every field of endeavor, exceptions do exist, but mostly, less fertilization and more attention to organic matter are the way forward, I believe.

However, do mulch the beds. It will even out the temperature and moisture levels and reduce weed growth. Over time organic mulches such as shredded bark mulch will break down and slowly add nutrients at a rate that plants use them. I don't generally fertilize anything other than plants in pots, though I do add compost and mulch.

Good point, Babs. Plants in containers-their entire universe is in that container. There is little to no opportunity for roots to colonize new ground in search of water or nutrients. So that is a completely different game. In fact, as one who says frequently on this and similar boards that for the most part, fertilizers are overused and not the answer to good plant performance, I nevertheless use fertilizers constantly during the growing season.....in large containerized plantings I design and oversee for this community. But again, that is an entirely different realm than shrubs and trees....and herbaceous perennials in the ground.

I honestly think the fertilizer industry has a lot to answer for as far as overselling their product and recreating non-point water pollution from runoff from lawns and gardens. Many home fertilizers are water soluble, so the plant maybe can grab a bit on the way by, but it doesn't remain well in many soils and will wash on through into ground water and surface waters. OK, now I will get off my hobbyhorse.

Qwerty, unless your soil is deficient in some component of fertilizer that the plant needs, it really is not helpful to the plant and can be harmful or self-defeating. For instance, if you add excess nitrogen to many types of plants, it encourages leafy growth at the expense of flowers, and may encourage insect or disease issues with all the succulent growth. I'd get a soil test done so that you will know next year what the soils might need. Often you can get them done by your state extension agency, or if not Cornell U does them via mail. The report will give among other info a general level of where your soil may be low or high for general plant growth.

You and I are in complete agreement, Babs. I shudder at seeing all the little wheelies dispensing product this time of year. Plus, it's so bone-headed. People with zero knowledge of what plants are, how they grow, what they are actually adapted to, will nevertheless religiously have the fertilizer guys coming to their properties. Once watched not one, not two, but three different "lawn care professionals" dispensing their product on a series of lawns that all three backed up to a deep stormwater management channel. It had been hot and dry, the ground was a brick, but a raging thunderstorm was just over the horizon. Needless to say, all of that nutrient load is the reason the hybrid (invasive) cattails grew to twelve feet tall in that channel. What a bunch of chuckleheads.

Soil preparation like loosening up the soil and adding organic matter is the best thing you can do before planting to insure good plant growth. An organic mulch after planting is the next best thing.

I'm an experienced gardener and I never use fertilizer in my garden. Too many downsides.

And so often, completely unnecessary. I agree - the fertilizer industry has a lot to answer for!! Even those selling natural or organic products encourage repeated use when perhaps once a season (if at all) is all that is necessary. Like Mike, I never fertilize anything other than containerized plants, however, I do use a nutrient rich organic mulch religiously.