This is also my 1st year wintersowing. In general though when I plant stuff, if I remember I to, I throw a bit of Bulb Tone or Holly Tone (or whatever __Tone is available) into the bottom of the hole. The Espoma Tone fertilizers are slow-acting so I figure they help. I like slow-acting stuff since it is less likely to overdose or burn plants.

Yak, even though this thread is old, I felt that I had to comment. My cocker absolutely loves cat food too! But I feed her homemade soup, at least three times a week. Very easy, boil up any chicken bones leftovers or whatever meat leftovers you've got. Add some rice and potatoes until cooked, and then at the very end - a whole bunch of finely chopped carrots, tomatoes, zuccini - whatever is at hand. She likes that stuff the best! I do stay away from raw meat for the dog because of salmonella threats.

No odor. But that may also mean no nutrients. My uncle, an old farmer when I was growing up, spread manure on his fields and tilled it in within 24 hours of spreading it so the nutrients would not be lost to the atmosphere. He said what you smell from manure is nutrients going out into the air.

I've never heard that "SWAN" but really that's it! They nickname it "Happy to Starve" in gastro school (per my gastroenteroligist) And many call it "Putnam's Syndome" but that's just a nick name as well given that Dr. Putnam has spent so much time analzying kids with this problem. They tell me it's a great deal like when you're told your child has died of SIDS. There is always a reason children die, but systemically they can't find the reason and so you get SIDS. With us, we got Putnam's or SWAN I guess (Dr Putnam is our doctor as well) :o( Eating disorders normally happen with children who have special needs, like autistic children, children with brain disorders, etc., but we don't have any of those problems so the fun part of this is dealing with insurance companies for treatment, when he has no official disease (his actuall diagnosis is Fail to Thrive without reason). The insurance companies seem to want him to go ahead and "Fail" and we insist that isn't the route we want to go. I learned abut the Kennedy Kreiger clinic on feeding disorders and while reading realized they were describing my child to a T! They do work with kids with much more significant issues involved in their eating problems (ie cleft pallet or inability to swallow etc) but they also have a place for the Jesse's of the world who just won't eat because it hurts. Somehow we need to figure out why it hurts before we begin treatment....that's the hard part. But fortunately we're going to do more poop testing first, instead of anything that will hurt him. Thanks for SWAN. I'm going to have to keep that on the tip of my tongue because I'm tired of having to explain this over and over and over to people who want to hear a name fancier than "Happy to Starve" (Which actually fits him to a T as well)