Kristimama wrote: > Is an all-plant compost (OMRI certified or not) sufficient OM for a productive veggie garden? I'm a complete beginner, but I don't think an all-plant compost is inferior in the least. Not sure but you seem to want to give all-plant composts an inferiority complex :-) Here's a quote from Ann Whitman's and Suzanne DeJohn's book called "Organic Gardening for Dummies" (for dummies like me): "Before buying the compost, ask about the primary organic-matter sources that were used to make the compost. Compost made from yard waste (leaves and grass clippings) is considered to be the safest and best. Other compost may contain ingredients that had contaminants, such as herbicides from agricultural crop residues and heavy metals from municipal wastes, which may affect the growth of your plants or accumulate toxins in your soil. Ask if the finished product is tested for contaminants." When I read above that "Compost made from yard waste (leaves and grass clippings) is considered to be the safest and best," I was spurred on to make my own compost. I don't think there's anything inferior about plain old leaves and grass. To the contrary, they seem to be really good stuff. So good in fact, that tomorrow I'm going to transfer the 3 cubic feet of chopped leaves, grass, and fruit peels from my small trash can to a much bigger round plastic barrel and add even more leaves and grass, doubling the size of the organic matter from 3 cubic feet to 6 cubic feet. "Let It Rot!" seems to be a popular book on Amazon.com about composting. Ordered it a couple days ago.

My experience is very different. 13 years ago, I put in two full ranges (4 burners on each one) in two different parts of my kitchen. Space was not a problem, and we entertained frequently with multiple cooks in the kitchen. I also have two dishwashers, so was able to make two work triangles. It has worked very well, although I can see your point about trying to cook while baking and the heat generated. The main point I wanted to make was that at the time, I bought an expensive ($1600) Kitchen Aid convection range. It has been nothing but a nightmare. I often cannot broil and cook on the cooktop at the same time--it shorts out the entire range. This happened within the first 6 months of owning it, and the repairman said that the model was really just for show and the circuitry wasn't sufficient to handle heavy cooking! Since then, the electronic control pads don't register, so if I want the oven to be at 350, I have to press in 349 because the 5 and the 0 don't work! The convection never worked properly. Horrible waste of money. I can't wait to get something else, and I'll never get another Kitchen Aid.

Yes, one strategy when broadcasting urea is to irrigate a lot. So that was a good move on your part. The urea will dissolve, and soak deep into the soil, where you really want it to be. That's where it turns into nutrients, and the nutrients are captured. Urea is really a different kind of "fertilizer". Of course, a common source of urea is urine, and it is similarly inefficient with regard to plant nutrition to just pee on the soil surface. Also inefficient to store the urine for a while before applying it. Fresh and deep! There is a lot of mythology about using urine as fertilizer that isn't really based on the chemistry.

I use my steam oven for almost everything. It is much better at reheating food than a microwave or regular oven. For example, I had some leftover chinese food yesterday - microwaved rice is usually kind of hard. I put everything in the convection steam oven in the plastic and waxed paper takeout containers, set the oven to 220 degrees at 50% steam for 15 minutes - when it comes out, everything tastes great like it is fresh. If you keep the oven temperature below 220 or so, you can use plastic containers or your regular dining plates because they won’t melt - it’s the same temperature as putting them in the dishwasher. I could reheat the same food more quickly (in about 10 min) if I put it in an oven-safe container and turned up the heat. The food stays moist because of the steam. They’re really good for roasting chicken or broiling fish because the outside gets crispy, but the inside doesn’t dry out. Anything that you’d cook in boiling water on the stove can also be cooked in it - pasta, rice, quinoa, oatmeal, etc. You can stick an egg in there and make a hard boiled egg in 6-7 min. You can steam veggies, fish, lobster. and lots of people use it to get a chewy crust on bread. many people get rid of their microwaves when they have a steam oven, but I still like having a microwave for my kids’ food or some frozen meals. My oven has preprogrammed recipes - for example, you can tell it that you want to cook salmon, broccoli, and rice, and have everything ready by 6pm. It will then tell you what time to put everything in so that it is all ready at the same time - the flavors don’t mix in a steam oven so you can cook fish and broccoli in the same oven without a problem. You can also use it for sous vide cooking because it has very low precise temperatures. So basically it can be used as a regular oven without stream, a pure steamer, a sous vide cooker, or a combination for anything that you want to bake/heat but keep moist. The Miele oven that I have has a plumbed water line so I don’t have to refill the tank. I’ve also used it as an extra warming spot when my warming drawer gets full because you can turn the temperature on very low.