Welcome! Stick a chopstick in the soil. Pull it out every once in a while. If the end of it is moist, don't water. If it's dry, water. You don't want to water on a schedule, only when the tree needs it. Hope you're keeping it outdoors!

Matthew - they want lousy soil. I'm in the same zone(s) as you are and my folks practiced organic gardening here for 40+ years. Everywhere I dig there are big, fat worms so I know the soil is healthy. My lupines do okay but the neighbor next door whose soil is nothing but sand and rocks has GORGEOUS lupines. The ones above are my own 'Chandelier' and they're growing about 60 ft. south of my neighbor's:

Hey Josh, Thanks for the the tips, but I hope not to be doing much shooting other than quilts, plants & architectural details. I'm still am looking for work (15 months later, thank G_d for Unemployment Insurance extensions) & trying to prevent Quilting from upstaging my job search efforts. So pix will largely have to keep, it's really to be a vehicle for my Quilt Blog, you'll are invited to come on by for a visit & drop thoughts, comments, critiques, etc.; all are welcome -- ("karenthequilter" (no spaces)). I'm trying to start selling my Quilts as folks have been asking me for years if I sell them. I hadn't been interested in doing so 'til now, & have a larger enough body of works to get started. Also I haven't known how to before, am trying to figure this out, so had my friend of Ceropegia fame take some pix so I could start having an online presence (a quilt forum to get feedback) & there's a handmade art site called Etsy where I hope to be posting for sale (my stuff is kind of pricy for there, not sure it'll work; I do more Art Quilts & one of a kind work rather that more traditional type quilts). Hiya Christoula, Yes, I'm in NYC, actually Sheepshead Bay, all the way at the other end of the Coney Island Boardwalk (approx. 3 miles away). You bought your camera in Coney Island? How bizarre, small world, didn't even know it had camera shops; hope you got a receipt. Maybe we can meet on the Boardwalk sometime, say hello & grab a coffee somewhere. What pls. is "shooting in raw"? I've spent some time w/ the manual & have now cleared out sufficient room on my hard drive. Patron St. sent me some freeware editting stuff I still have to check out. As to getting it on the page, I'll confess, going thru Photobucket as intermediary. So far I've shot to the build it-in memory card & the removable one & played back from each to my PC. But I didn't know how to upload to here w/out copying the salient lines of code from Photobucket. Anyway, lots to learn, have just spent my first batteries, got to go buy more & a recharger. Bummer that I've discovered is my built memory card holds 3 pix -- 3???? Whose brilliant idea was that I ask you ...? Hey John, Thanks, nothing wrong w/ dinosaurs, if it ain't broke ... as long as you can take nice pix, I wouldn't hurry. Anyway, sorry to be sort of OT, but I will be shooting more plant pix SOMETIME & besides, it's my thread right, so I can't sort of veer it in a semi-off T direction? We'll blame it on new camera delirium!!

Shelley, what a terrific swap box Pam sent you. The theme is so cute. Love your "man" in the apron. I look forward to seeing that beautiful dish show up in your dinner photos. Just so you know Shelley, you aren't the only one that worries about all of those things you mentioned. I think that everyone that participates has the same worries. Ann