Yes, most everything that you mentioned will grow well in unfinished compost. I do that all the time, due to a variety of reasons. First, I like that I can get huge amounts of wood chips (the most acid of all organic amendments) for free, from tree companies. When they arrive, you have to put them somewhere, or your wife will divorce you, and that is on top of the beds. The chips are easy to move around with a pitchfork, whereas finished compost is much more of a pain (I produce small amount of finished compost for seedlings only). And the chips (or grass clippings, or leaves) do eliminate weeding, the chips for two years or so. Clippings and leaves, likewise, are easily movable with a pitchfork when they are still whole. Clippings go under plants as soon as they are produced, while leaves overwinter away from the garden only because piles of leaves turn into mice cities around here in the winter, otherwise they would go on the beds right away. Then you are left with the problem of having temporarily acid soil. For fruit trees and berries, that is not a problem. You will just mulch them with chips indefinitely, and they will be happy like that. I can guarantee that blueberries, raspberries, hardy kiwis, grapes, blackberries, pears, apples and currant are quite comfortable with wood chips only. All my flowerbeds and perennials get wood chips only, except irises and moonflowers, which need wood ash. The pH of the soil will rise as the matter decomposes, to the point where eventually the soil will get close to its original pH. There is a particular sequence that one has to follow to take advantage of this varying pH. Basically, amongst common veggies, potatoes will grow in wood chips that have been only slightly amended and are still too acid for most everything. In that soil, still not totally finished, the next year you will be able to grow tomatoes and squash and melons. The next year you can grow chicory (radicchio) and garlic. The next year you can try pole beans and collard. The next year the soil should be well done. Other large amounts of wood chips go well as a thick mulch (on top of finished soil) for tomatoes, all cucurbita, pole beans, collards, garlic and onions, and herbs. At the end of the season, I rake it in one pile at one end of the bed, and that will be a potato patch next year (repeat rotation). That is basically how I manage my soil. About 60% of my 8 beds were once wood chips. I use kitchen compost, which is quite N-rich, to correct the nitrogen deficiency of the chips. I also use urea and manure from my neighbor's horses, to the same effect (essentially N management). You have to add some N to unfinished compost, depending on its original green-brown ratio. You may have to add N for a few years. I use a lot of leaves, which produce nice, somewhat unfinished compost by May which is friendly to most vegetables. I particularly like leaves compost with lettuce. Finally, for some veggies even years later the soil remains a bit too acid. I add wood ash, which I have in great abundance. Virtually all veggies benefit from wood ash in my acid soil, but greens (arugula, rapini, bok choi, kale, tatsoi, spinach) and beets, in particular, can not grow without some. They prefer a more alkaline soil. I use wood ash basically for pH management. So most everything will grow well in the soil you have, if something looks poor, look up its optimal pH, then put lime or ash under it, on a case by case basis.

CLKW, you can make your own danged matzah balls! Texas is a big place, so I don't know if this is hundreds of miles away from you, but they had Kenny & Ziggy's in Houston on TV. E-mail me if you need a recipe. I think you really need to research more on the manufacturers' websites. Read through the operating manuals and get to know the appliances before you make a decision. The portable unit Dan linked looks like a a good unit. When I landed here induction wasn't very popular in the U.S. so I wanted to try it and got the cheapest one I could get on Amazon (Mr. Induction). It was enough to convince me. Commercial units like Dan's have different kinds of controllers than home units do. This one has thermostatic control, whereas home units have levels numbered from 1-9 (some with half stops). Cooktek (also commercial) has 1-100. Zoneless, as has been said, is also different, though the controllers are similar. I forgot to answer up topic about the self-import. If you do that, talk to your insurance first about it not being UL listed and get a letter for your file (kept at your agent's office) that says it's okay with the company. Talk to your electrician about wiring. And talk to your local servicemen. I wouldn't go with the De Dietrich. People were self importing these all over the place a couple of years ago, but when things went wrong they had orphan appliances. Instead, if you find an AEG, for instance, that you like, talk to the local Electrolux service and see if they'll take care of you. There likely won't be a warranty, but if you need a fix make sure someone can fix it. And know that the timers won't work right because they use the frequency of the electricity to mark time and they're different here and there. My serviceman said to just make a conversion chart. Re steamers, the in counter is more like a using a bamboo steamer in a wok. The combi-steam oven is an oven which also has steam. Very different. The steam is the same, but the mode of cooking is different. You'd have to ask someone more familiar than I with the in counter steamer, but I'm not sure all leftovers will fit. They'd have to be shaped correctly. Plus, people have said that you can just put a plate of dinner for a straggler in the combi-steam to refresh, which you can't in a counter steamer. It's not a bad appliance--just be aware of what the different ones do and don't do. You can't stack three different brands of ovens three high. I think you're getting a little star struck. Okay, for getting a crisp crust on bread in a normal, electric oven, use a pan of water. For steaming vegetables, use a steamer basket in a pan of water on the stove. I suppose you could use the oven, but getting it right would be hard. You can also use a plastic steamer basket in a microwave, in a corningware pot of water, or a bamboo steamer basket in a wok of water. There are other ways too. In a Gagg combi-steam, put in perforated pan in oven. Oh! You might want to look into the KitchenAid Steam Assist oven. That's a full sized oven with some steam. Not as fancy, not as expensive, but a full sized oven with a trick up its sleeve. I don't understand this sentence: Can I get steam oven results by sticking a pan of water in the combi oven and using microwave and oven to cook my leftovers? Have you tried that? I haven't tried any of it because they're just finishing my kitchen now. The combi- doesn't need a pan of water, so I think there's a typo somewhere. I haven't used the pan of water with leftovers. If it's just for myself, I'm more likely to zap it if I want it hot (and often would rather have cold). If it's for more, I'll redecorate it and put it in the oven. If you want more info on reheating and refreshing with the combi-steam, search on Gizmonike. Re prices, I don't think the Gaggenau convection oven is all that much different from the Miele, especially since you're already at the top of the scale. The Gaggenau combi-steam is more double the currently available Miele steam oven because the latter is steam only. For the same price as the latter, you could get the KA. I don't know much about the KA, but it's an oven with some steam, not a steam appliance. You'd have to find out more, but I don't think you can just put stuff like veg or rice in to steam only. But I don't think you can probably stack it with the Miele either. A lot of it depends on what you want to do and how you want to do it. It's very hard to know when you're not all that used to cooking well. It'll be more fun and easier in your new kitchen, but maybe you should start trying these things now. Put a custard cup or ramkin or whatever you have with water in your oven and see what happens. Steam some stuff on the stove. Etc. Fancy tools make life easier, but everything you do is much easier when you know the basics behind them. In school we had to calculate cube roots and natural logs even though we had calculators and there were tables in the back of the math book. Same with kitchen tools, before you use a food processor, learn to use a knife. Before you use a dough hook, learn to knead. Before you use a steamer, learn to steam on the stove. That way you'll learn what things are supposed to look and feel and taste and sound like, and won't be relying on machines to tell you what to eat.

Im looking for a leather bed and interiors2suit seem to have a good collection and they seem to be very cheap just wondering has anyone used them and if they have what was thier sevice and products like?

I'm so good! That's what I tell my family when I figure something out. Right after I did this topic I ordered a 3 pack of white vinyl erasers before reading the replies. :) Z, I saw those and thought how cool they are! It may be a gift for next Christmas. Cyn, when drawing you have to be specific on what type of pencil is needed. There are charcoal pencils, colored pencils, even liquid graphite pencils. Also there are different strengths of graphite for different projects. My dad (along with DS) was a civil engineer and I'd find green drafting pencils (wood) on his desk and swipe one. Wish I'd kept just one pencil. I'm good on pencil recommendations via all the money we paid for DS's tuition. 😊