OP, nitrogen that comes in a protein form, i.e. alfalfa meal, soy meal, corn meal, soy meal, etc. is the go-to nitrogen if you are uncertain about overdosing. Get it? A vegetative form of feritlizer. That said, you still want to apply at the appropriate rate per square foot of garden area. The organic fertilizer will have an NPK ratio, and apply at the appropriate rate per square foot, just as if you were using synthetic nitrogen. Applying a grain meal will not cause any damage, even if you already have too much nitrogen from all the poop. (In your case, you want the first number to be the dominant number in ratio compared to the next two numbers. That doesn't mean the first number needs to be high, just that it is relatively much higher than the second two numbers.) Too much nitrogen, of any sort, will burn through the compost/organic matter you spent all of that effort amending your soil with. But an organic fertilzer will prevent you from damaging your plants in case you inadvertently over apply (becuase it's buffered, the nitrogen being attached to a very long carbon molecule chain ;) ).. The nitrogen will be availabe to the plant in about two weeks and will last about two months. You can do it again, in other words, every two months. If you want vegetative compost, get free tree trimmings from a local arborist and make your own! If you want to compost it fast, add nitrogen to it, or greens such as grass clippings. However, I'm positive you can find vegetative compost somewhere nearby, but there's very little regulation so you never know what's in there. Trust, but verify, as my hero Ronaldus Magnus used to say, High quality compost, in general, contains up to twenty-five percent manure, maximum, is aged for at least a year or two, and contains no peat moss and minimal pine bark. Best wishes. M This post was edited by Mackel-in-DFW on Wed, May 7, 14 at 16:28

Don, and Dan, The pleasure of your visit yesterday was all ours. I hope my switch of hamburgers for hotdogs was O.K., heheheh. Now today I worked again on the grill, and if today's fix sticks, I can return to hamburgers and steaks with the grill... I look forward to seeing you and Dan's Hostas early next year! And you will be pestered (reminded) to bring y'all's cameras next year, eh? hh

It's late so I'm just going to respond train-of-thought to your questions..... RE your exercises -- that's a lot of the stuff my last PT had me doing -- I think it's general leg strengthening stuff and probably all very good stuff to do, but the exercises the new PT gave me really get the butt and outside of the hips, which is what I need, apparently, to cure the IT band stuff. And it takes so much less time -- if I hustle, I can do everything in 10 minutes. re: pilates being too boring and slow-paced -- the more advanced winsor workouts are much faster-paced with less explaining. See if you can get a hold of the Maximum Burn series - she goes very fast in that one. There's a 20 minute one and a 45 mninute one. I think they're both out of print, but there are usually plenty of used copies on amazon (cheap!) re: your arches -- I think high arches are big contributors to knee pain. I'm sure you already did this, but make sure you have the right shoes -- high arched feet need neutral/cushioned shoes -- any sort of stability or motion control shoe will just screw you up further. I have Nike Zoom Vomero 4's -- they are the cushiest shoes ever but they don't last long -- my last pair needed replacing after less than 200 miles. You may want to see a different podiatrist for a second opinion on your orthotics -- I've seen a few and each one has a different opinion on what kind orthotics to make me. I have a set of old orthotics from my 20s and sometimes I wear them to run, sometimes I don't. I don't think they make much difference actually. (Part of me thinks podiatry is a hocus-pocus kind of field!.) A good book to read is "Running Injury Free" by Joe Ellis. He is a podiatrist but very knowledgable and I found it fascinating how he took people's weird pains and traced them down to all kinds of crazy causes (one woman had hip pain that he traced to a tiny nail that had penetrated the sole of her running shoe and was very mildly poking her as she ran -- she didn't even realize it was there, but it was throwing off her stride to such an extent that it screwed up her ankle, knee and hip. But anyway, he spends a lot of time talking about how people's arches and foot structure can really cause issues all the way up the leg - it's interesting to read. re: how long I foam roll - I usually foam roll for a few minutes. You are supposed to stay on each painful spot for as long as you can and at least 20-30 seconds. I will roll til I hit all my painful spots (some twice) or until my arms get tired from holding me up (I find that you have to be pretty acrobatic to get yourself in some of these positions, LOL!) If you have painful spots, you need to roll. The first time I did it, my right IT band didn't hurt at all -- not one bit -- when I foam rolled it (and of course, my right knee didn't hurt). My left IT band, on the other hand, was excruciatingly painful the whole way up and down my leg. I rolled for maybe 3-4 minutes total (it hurt so bad I had to stop) and the next morning, I felt so much better. When I rolled again (I was doing it twice a day at first, now just once a day), there were far fewer painful spots, and now I find that if I keep up the rolling regularly, I can roll and not find any painful spots at all (and then I'm done in like 20 seconds!). Basically, if you feel any pain when you roll your IT band, you've found a problem and you just need to park there on the roller and let the roller work the knot out. Seriously -- in just days, with proper rolling, you should be feeling far less pain during the rolling itself and of course, less knee pain during all your activities. re: the fluid in your knee -- the fluid in your knee might never go away but it is probably not causing your pain. I have tons of fluid in both knees (docs think it is from the trauma of the accident) but other than making really loud crackling popping noises all the time (seriously, in my first set of PT, people could hear my knees popping from across the room when I was doing those step-ups and stuff - it was gross!), it never hurt. The pain is caused by the muscles around your knee pulling your kneecap all out of whack. Once you release the tension in your IT band and strengthen the other muscles around the knee to hold your kneecap in place, it won't be getting yanked all over the place and your pain should go away or at least become a lot more managable. Good luck!

i watched the entire 20/20 show as well. what a creep. total disrespect and disregard for human life. he made a comment about "he couldn't believe this was happening to him". what an azz. what made me sicker, and i realize everyone has rights, but when they interviewed his sleeze of a lawyer, who will find every loophole he can get through to make a case for his killer client. the mother said she long ago realized her daughter wasn't coming back, what she needed was to finally know. as of reviewing that tape, she got the closer, albeit no body to bury, that she needed. she showed great courage while watching that video and she was right when she said that the world will be this kid's jury. everyone knows, based on what was aired, what a disgusting excuse of a man he is. the mother wouldn't do herself any good to hold on to hatred for this boy, what good would that do for her health and the memory of her daughter. but to have to sit through that listening to how this boy talked about her daughter, so very sad. i like to believe in what goes around comes around. just hope his is a little more painful and drawn out. maryanne