Sorry I should have clarified - on the back it says you can also make a tea with the stuff by adding one cup to a gallon of water and letting it sit 24 hours - then strain the remaining matter and put that around your roots, then use 1-2 cups of the liquid per plant. It also says it can be used full strength as a foliar feed. It's a 5-7-3 ratio plus micorrhizae and microbes. So Dave - then it seems like it would be a good idea this round to use the liquid form yeah based on your last comment? It doesn't say whether this would replace the dry side dressing treatment but I'm guessing it would? So then I would side dress again in August? Sure seems like a long time away.... link to product below. And seysonn that is a deal! The Dr. Earth's has lots of other soil-building goodies in there that I need in my new soil as I try to build it up. Seems like it will have more of a long term effect as far as overall soil health, at least that is my thinking. Here is a link that might be useful: Dr. Earth tomato veggie and herb fertilizer

Dr Earth Home Grown Organic Premium Concentrate Tomato, Vegetable, & Herb Fertilizer. But the rest smell just as bad... at least as a concentrate. Although, I must say, that after a week it no longer smells when I water.

Alfalfa meal is as if you put alfalfa pellets in a food processor or blender and ground them up almost to a powder. The Dr. Earth alfalfa meal also has added "Pro-Biotics beneficial soil microbes". From my reading, it looks as if the best thing for the roses is to buy pellets, make tea, and use the tea as a foliar spray. I don't want to undertake the making of tea, so will apply pellets and meal instead. I am thinking to put the meal in the amended soil used to fill my planting holes for roses and other things I need to plant soon, and to apply the pellets within and at drip line of established plants. I bought a 50-lb bag of Arco brand pellets at a local feed store for $18.99. I also ordered the 3-pound box of Dr. Earth alfalfa meal on amazon for $11.71. The 50-pound bag of pellets measures roughly 5x16x24, whereas the 3-pound box of meal measures 7 x 10.75 x 2.375. I could not find much info online about Dr. Earth alfalfa meal, so (in case anyone is interested), I will paste in the notes I made from the Dr. Earth alfalfa meal box: Dr. Earth #720 Alfalfa Meal 2-1-2, 3-pound box. 2-1-2 NPK or Nitrogen-Phosphate-Potash. Also contains 7 kinds of non-plant food ingredients, e.g. Bacillus subtilis [a soil bacteria]. Supplies Pro-Biotics beneficial soil microbes. Store in a cool dry place. Avoid direct exposure to light. Vegetables, annuals, perennials, bedding plants: a. New plantings: Mix into your soil amendment: 1 cup per 10 square feet. Till to depth of 4 to 8 inches, and water in. b. Established: Side dress any time during growing season: 1 cup per 10 square feet of growing area. Work lightly into soil gently, and water well. When potting up plants, mix 2 T per gallon of potting soil, or 1/2 cup per 1/2 cup cubic foot of potting soil. (1/2 cubic foot of is approx 5 gallons.) Mix soil and alfalfa meal thoroughly. Water well. Established potted plants: 2 T for 6" container, or 8 T for 12" container. Scratch into soil gently. Add thin layer of mulch if possible. New plantings of trees and shrubs: 2 cups per half cubic foot or 5 gallons of soil for filling the hole. Water. Established trees and shrubs: 1 cup per inch of trunk diameter, measuring 4 to 6" above the soil line. Work gently into soil inside the drip line. Water. May be used as compost starter.

So I decided to give away the tomatoe plants I was going to grow in containers to our grandparents. My husband talked me into it since I just started my nursing program on Monday, & of course he's right, it would be hard for me to manage everyone in our garden. So as of now, I have 5 tomatoe plants in the ground. We have a new house and the new thing around here is "no backyard". Our backyard is TINY!! There all doing great so far, we amended the holes with master nursery bumper crop (should have done the whole area as a whole, but will do it next year), I put in 3 celebrity, 1 Brandywine & a better boy. We added tomatoe tone around the tomato plants 4-6 inches around the stem & topped it with earthworm castings & straw bought from tractor supply (10.99 a compressed bale) and left about a 1 inch of empty around the stem. As for my strawberry plant and basil and cilantro which are in containers, I just threw on some earthworm casting and topped with straw. The banana pepper is in a whisky barrel container and I threw 8 stakes in of Jobes organic vegetable slow release fertilizer in the soil (what packaging said). So as for the tomatoe tone - it says add more in 14 days after the first fertilization. What do you guys recommend? We planted the plants on March 28, added the fertilizer and earthworm castings April 1. Should I get any other kind of fertilizer for my tomatoe plants or is the tomatoe tone good enough to last me all season (remember they are all in the ground). What about my strawberry or herbs? Should i just forsure leave them alone or just keep adding worm castings once a month? I think I'm leaving the fish emulsion alone, too confusing for me, unless someone advises me to use some on my plants - do give details lol