top-dress

Return anything too chunky to the bin, and top-dress your plants indoors or out with the good stuff.

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 8, 2023

They must plow, and sow, and top-dress, and bottom-dress, and deep-drain, and surface-drain, and all the rest of it.

From No Name by Wilkie Collins

If the soil is heavy, top-dress with grit in the fall.

From Making A Rock Garden by H. S. (Henry Sherman) Adams

The accumulation of the winter is usually applied to the land for the corn crop, except the finer portion, which is used to top-dress meadow land.

From Peat and its Uses as Fertilizer and Fuel by Samuel W. (Samuel William) Johnson

It is a great nuisance for a public man who is liable to come home late at night to have to top-dress his head before he can retire.

From A Guest at the Ludlow and Other Stories by Edgar Wilson

We've top-dressed both several times, so balls should roll onto the greens.

From Golf Digest ● Aug. 2, 2012

After the bed has borne a little while it is top-dressed all over with a half-inch layer of fine soil.

From Mushrooms: how to grow them a practical treatise on mushroom culture for profit and pleasure by William Falconer

Trees in pots to be shifted, or top-dressed, as may be necessary.

From In-Door Gardening for Every Week in the Year Showing the Most Successful Treatment for all Plants Cultivated in the Greenhouse, Conservatory, Stove, Pit, Orchid, and Forcing-house by William Keane

When a piece of land is to be planted in sweet potatoes, it should be top-dressed with some manure, to be dug or ploughed under a week or two before it is to be planted.

From The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom Considered in Their Various Uses to Man and in Their Relation to the Arts and Manufactures; Forming a Practical Treatise & Handbook of Reference for the Colonist, Manufacturer, Merchant, and Consumer, on the Cultivation, Preparation for Shipment, and Commercial Value, &c. of the Various Substances Obtained From Trees and Plants, Entering into the Husbandry of Tropical and Sub-tropical Regions, &c. by P. L. Simmonds

To insure an extra yield of this valuable grain, the soil must be highly manured, deeply ploughed, thorough cultivated and hoed, and top-dressed with lime, house ashes, and plaster.

From The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom Considered in Their Various Uses to Man and in Their Relation to the Arts and Manufactures; Forming a Practical Treatise & Handbook of Reference for the Colonist, Manufacturer, Merchant, and Consumer, on the Cultivation, Preparation for Shipment, and Commercial Value, &c. of the Various Substances Obtained From Trees and Plants, Entering into the Husbandry of Tropical and Sub-tropical Regions, &c. by P. L. Simmonds

I prefer to use compost as a top-dressing mulch since that doubles as a fertilizer and soil-health enhancer, but you could also use a 5-10-5 fertilizer sparingly.

From Salon ● May 18, 2022

This is no mere top-dressing — not a mulch layer, but a deliberate foundation 4 or 5 inches deep into which the garden is planted.

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 21, 2022

When it’s rotted down and mature, you’ll have a material perfect for use as a potting mix or as a top-dressing for the garden.

From Washington Post ● Oct. 20, 2015

Ammonium nitrate fertilizer is also popular for top-dressing pastures at midsummer since it evaporates more slowly than some competitors.

From Slate ● Apr. 18, 2013

Such kinds as Snowdrops, Scillas, Chionodoxas, &c., are excellent for this purpose, and may be left for several seasons without disturbance, provided they get a top-dressing of well-decayed manure during the autumn.

From Beautiful Bulbous Plants For the Open Air by John Weathers