Karen, As with a healthy diet for a human plants have similar needs. Just like human supplements, viamins etc. It is required by law all fertilizer packaging must have a approved label telling the levels of major ingredients. Always you will find the letters N P K each with a following number. Example N10 (nitrogen) P10 (phosphate) K10 (potassium) representing the major elements. I hope the following article I wrote several years ago clarifies the science info for you: Most in the plumeria hobby have been taken in by the high middle number phosphate (P) baloney of the marketing by Miracle Grow and others only to see very short term results and very little cold or heat resistance from their plumeria. Fertilizing plumeria or any plant for that matter is important to ensure healthy growth. Nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium need to be added on a regular basis. This is more important in containerized growing. The percentages of these nutrients are labeled on fertilizer packages. Also, many times you find listings of minerals and other beneficial additives. Adding minerals is important for healthy plant growth. Nitrogen (N) aids in strong leaf and stem growth and promotes dark green leaf color. Too much nitrogen causes soft foliage and delays flowering, while not enough nitrogen causes stunted growth and leaf yellowing. Phosphorus (P) is thought to be needed for root development however new studies suggest that it is not the primary element; calcium plays a more important role for root mass. Phosphorus assists plants to set buds in the flower cycle. Not enough phosphorus can cause stunted plant growth. Potassium (K) improves plant hardiness in both hot and cold weather. It also helps in seed production and improves the size, color and quality of the flowers. Not enough potassium causes a weak plant, reduced flower quality and flower size. There are different fertilizing methods Liquid or Granular. I recommend Liquid because you have complete control over the amount released (PPMs/TDS). If you use a Granular or Time- Release the break down depends on the amount of water used or by how hot it is, therefore if it rains or it is hot and you water often the amount of feed could be to strong for the plant. This can burn the roots killing your plants. The opposite as in very little water means no food for the plant being released. Also, there is no way to calculate the amount and or when your plant is receiving nutrients. If you water on a regular basis use a complete and balanced liquid fertilizer. It is important to note frequent watering leaches out soil nutrients quickly and you'll need to fertilize regularly. This makes the case for continuous feeding program or "fertigation". (fertilizing every time you water) If you noticed phosphorus (P) may be the root promoter and then is secondary in its effect on blooming. In all hot climates it is very important to use a higher potassium (K) number. Also, for cold protection higher potassium (K) is very necessary. So a fertilizer routine in Inland Southern California as well as Arizona should be different than any of the high middle number (P)fertilizer products have to offer. Another reason for the high K number is; potassium reaches a higher concentration in plants then any other mineral element and activates over 60 enzymes. This process increases cell strength and general plant hardiness. I hope this helps, if you have more questions just ask. Jack

Hey Matt Maybe you can help me identify a bird I saw yesterday. I don't know if it is a resident or just passing through. It is a yellow bird (like a goldfinch) about 5 inches (the size of a wren, maybe) with a large black mask across it's eyes. Tried to identify it from the birding websites on the internet, but wasn't too sure. The closest ID I could find was a black and white warbler, but that seemed to have too much black and white.

Bon, I'm glad he's feeling better, even if he is bouncing off the walls. I hope it is warm and rain-free today so maybe he can play outside and enjoy feeling better. (In my perfect world---the one that exists only inside my imagination, it would rain only at night so we could work outside during the day). Thirty-five degrees is awfully cool. Have y'all reached your average last frost date yet? Lisa, I've been watching the 5-day and 7-day Qualitative Precipitation Forecast all week. A few days ago it was showing really great rainfall totals over much of OK, especially central OK, and every day for the last 2 or 3, the amount it is showing is dropping. I still think y'all will get some good rainfall, but I'm not sure it will be as much as the forecasters once thought. The same is true for much of the state. For all my complaining the last few weeks about wet soil, we have had a lot of drying in the upper few inches of the soil during all the hot, windy days when the rain kept missing us. There's still good moisture about a foot down. I know this because I removed the low tunnel from my onion bed (the leaves were hitting the netting, which meant it had to go) and when I pulled the rebar out of the ground, there was a giant sucking sound from that deep moisture. Unfortunately, up in the raised bed where the onions are growing, it is a lot drier. Now I'm worried our wet-so-far year may be changing back to more skimpy rainfall. I have been watching the soil moisture measurements falling on the Mesonet map and felt they did not reflect our reality at our house until, suddenly, now it seems like they do. I hate that. On the other hand, the reason I've gotten so much garden work done lately is because it has dried up. Now, I guess, I need for it to rain again which will help the plants but probably will put me behind schedule on the back garden, where I hope to get a lot done before the heavy rain arrives, which is expected to be Sunday here, though maybe not until Sunday night. We never seem to get the rainfall we need when we want it or need it, but maybe y'all are finally going to get a break before Lake Hefner turns into a desert. I think Lake Texoma is down about a foot, but that's not too bad all things considered. I've been on a sapling-killing binge too---mulberries, hackberries, elm and oaks. I can blame the oaks on the squirrels, I guess. On these windy days the adjacent woodland has rained down tree seeds, flowers and pollen on me and the garden all day long. I mean the stuff is swirling around in the air like snow. I don't ever remember being showered by so much tree debris in the garden before while working. I pick up every elm seed I see lying on top of the soil when I'm weeding, figuring I can pick up the seeds now or pull the young trees later. Carol, I bet you're right about your soil generally staying too wet for herbs. I have found that most of the ones I grow really like to be high and dry within reason. My soil still is too heavy for thyme to grow, even in raised beds, since we sometimes get really heavy rainfall. I just grow what I can in the ground and put the rest in containers. I have transplanted all the big tomato plants that I'm going to plant into the ground and am holding the rest for the Spring Fling. Those are the ones started from seed on Super Bowl Sunday and then in the second round about two weeks after that. I have tiny plants from a third round that have not done as well. They just won't grow. It is vexing. I don't know whether to blame it on the constant cool, cloudy weather they had to grow in virtually from the day they sprouted or if it is the growing mix (I potted them up into Miracle-Grow Moisture Control, which worked great for the earlier seedlings, but not for these....and I think they went into mix from a new bag which might explain why they are underperforming). Most of these plants are only 2-4" tall, but Ildi is only 1" tall and has been for about 3 weeks. Their color has been off, which isn't unusual for very small seedlings, but usually by the time seedlings are 5 weeks old they are much bigger and have great color. I think something in the soil-less mix is out-of-whack but haven't had time to do anything about it. I'm contemplating planting some of these tiny plants directly in the ground to see if they will grow better in real soil and then potting up the others into soil-less mix from a new bag. I was busy with so many seedlings during seed-starting and potting-up time that I didn't want to mess with chasing down all the ingredients and making my own 5-1-1 mix, but now I kinda wish I had taken the time to do it. I don't regret breaking the tomato list into thirds and planting in three rounds as it helped me feel like I could take my time transplanting tomato plants into the ground at a slow, steady pace instead of rushing to get all of them into the ground quickly before they got too big. I just wish the third round had grown as well as the first two. Since we have had some sunny days lately, the tiny tomato plants' color has improved somewhat but their growth hasn't. If they were the only tomato plants I had, I'd be losing my mind worrying about what is wrong with them. Instead I'm just taking a reasoned response that "sometimes this happens" and will see if I can get them to start growing better and looking better. I've had mixed results with peas. Of the batch I pre-sprouted and started in paper cups, some are doing great in the ground and others are struggling. They're in a bed that runs west to east and all the happier plants are at the west end. The garden runs downhill from west to east, so I'm wondering if the plants at the east end are staying too wet even in their raised bed. I noticed while weeding yesterday that the east-west running onion bed, which also is a raised bed and sits even higher in the garden is exactly the same. At the drier west end, the ground is hard and crusty at the surface and I couldn't just pull weeds out---I had to use a small weeder to break the soil surface and then I could pull the weeds out. About midway down the bed as I moved further east, though, the soil became progressively wetter at the surface and I could yank out those weeds there quite easily. Even in my pathways between raised beds you can see where the garden effectively changes from drier to wetter soil. In the drier areas the mulch is a lighter color and in the wetter areas it is darker and even looks wet. I really enjoyed yesterday's weather. It actually felt like April when I walked out the door. Our high was only 73 compared to the previous day's 87 and it was so much more pleasant to be outdoors that I was out as late in the day as possible. I have to be in before dark because so much of the night-roaming wildlife is not something I want to run into, but I just barely made it in before dark. An hour or two later I was out on the front porch calling the name of a cat who apparently decided to stay out all night and saw the biggest skunk in our driveway that I've ever seen. It was bigger than any coon I've ever seen and we have had some fat, corn-fed coons some years. I joked to Tim that if the cat doesn't come in this morning, we'll know the skunk ate him. It was a really, really big one. We've also had some really huge possums this year, so I guess the mild and wet weather we've had the last few months really agreed with them. Now, I'm headed out to the garden in a minute for what I hope is a full day of getting things accomplished before the rain arrives. Dawn

Some 95% of my roses have new growth and buds right now. Even some of the once bloomers are pushing growth. The only properly dormant ones are Cardinal de Richelieu, Tuscany Superb and Felicite Parmentier - even Charles de Mills is growing a little. I am wondering if the dry late summer/autumn fooled them into thinking that was winter - my finicky Mme Pierre Oger is pushing new flower buds. Of course due to low light, and the incessant rain, the flowers I'm getting are mostly small and battered, but I cut a dozen or so buds for the table over xmas. What is more bothersome is that the bare roots I heeled in due to excessive wet making it difficult to dig are all attempting to leaf out. There's a semi dry spell forecast for the next few days so I shall attempt to get them in and wince at the lawn later.