Yet another question! This coffee table?
User
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
A coworker is selling this coffee table which I think is lovely. It's actually her mother's and she doesn't know the maker, only the dimensions and the fact that it's in great condition with no defects or scratches. (Sorry for the not so great quality photo. It's a picture of a picture.) I've always loved barley twist legs. How do you think it would look in place of what we currently have in our living area? DH hates our current table and yeah, up close it looks cheap and is wonky. It was an inexpensive Craigslist purchase. I know someone said here before that they liked the color of the current table, and I'm wondering if the barley twist table would be too much dark wood? On the other hand, what's there now sometimes looks out of place to me - jarring.
The barley twist table is 2.5 inches taller than our current piece at 24" in height and the same diameter, 40". Any issue with that size, I wonder? It will be difficult to see the table first without committing to buy it as the mother lives out of town but has offered to deliver the table to the buyer. She's asking $200. Thoughts?
By the way, I nixed the tiered table from Dillards that I was looking at them other day. So that's off the table (bad pun intended).
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olychick
8 years ago
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8 years agoRelated Discussions
Yet another woodchip/compost/soil question!
Comments (48)I am not positive about peat being renewable or not. I do know that it is dug up and processed and wrapped in plastic and shipped hundreds if not thousands of miles to garden centers around the planet. I see no reason for buying such a product when I can make compost and use leaves and horse manure and all sorts of other items to hold water and provide a good environment for my plants. The only having to water every other day with peat line was funny to me, I don't even water my container plants every other day. I put compost, leaves, and/or old horse manure in with the soil in my outdoor containers. Holds water really well, helps that I have a clay soil to start with. When there is an option, I go for locally available and free garden ingredients instead of buying stuff at the store. Not everyone has the time or inclination for that, but it is undeniably 1) cheaper, and 2) better for the planet to use the local organic material instead of the processed, transported, plastic wrapped stuff. Marcia, who rarely hugs trees, but did dance around one with a lot of friends and ribbons on Saturday (Maypole)...See MoreYet another, perhaps, testing of coffee grounds
Comments (13)Okay, I see what you're saying. I missed Albert's part about wanting a cation exchange capacity. Anyway, it's a good value to know in your organic amendment if you're deciding between a couple of choices and increasing nutrient holding capacity is a major concern. As one of the deciding factors, CEC can be one more thing to consider when choosing. To assume that one type of testing has no use because another type of testing is useful is a one-sided approach. That's usually not a good way to address any situation. One should strive to see the whole picture. I do agree that the results of the other tests that you mentioned would be nice to know to get the whole picture, but I was addressing why you would do a chemistry test. (since you asked) When it comes to chemical hazards, I wasn't talking about poisons and herbices. I was talking about salinity, pH, boron, sodium adsorption ratio (SAR) and the like. Are any of those going to be a problem in coffee grounds? Probably not, but it's never a bad idea to test something to ensure that what somebody says you're getting is what you're actually getting. I've had situations where a company sells a contractor "nitrolized fir shavings" only to find dangerous levels of boron because their "shavings" were actually ground-up, recycled, pressure-treated plywood. When it comes to salinity yes, testing just one contributing ion one would be a mistake and all of those nutrients are necessary for plant growth. That's why the lab tested all of them. The ECe, gives the overall salinity and addresses it as a single number to give you an idea of the osmotic potential of the salts when combined. Osmotic potential means that they pull and hang on to water. With enough combined salts, this osmotic potential is great enough that the salts can actually pull water with more force than plant roots can pull the water up. In those cases, salts pull water right out of the roots osmotically. That is where the burn on roots comes from. It depends on which plants you're talking about but for salt sensitive plants, that starts at an ECe of around 3.0 dS/m or so. A lot of stuff will start showing symptoms at 4.0 dS/m or greater. Then you look at specific ions because some (notably sodium) also have "specific toxicity". That means that in addition to the problem of osmotic potential, they are also taken up into the plant and act as a poison. So it is a good idea to look at specific ions in addition to as the overall salinity to get the whole picture. When it comes to balancing those minerals, yes. They are all nutrients and they need to be in balance. However, that will only get you so far. You need the whole picture to really address the issue (Gee, I'm sensing a theme). Let's say you have an ECe of 8.0 dS/m and your plants are burning and you find that your salinity is coming largley from magnesium, which is also at a 2(Mg) to 1(Ca) ratio with calcium. Sure, that ratio should be flipped so that you have a 2(Ca) to 1 (Mg) ratio but adding calcium at that point will also raise your salinity. You'll balance that ratio, but your salinity problem will still kill your plants. A different approach should be considered. The ECe is an important tool to help guide those decisions. I think that the confusion regarding organic material comes down to the definition of the term. Lots of people use the term very loosely to mean that the material in question is derived from something that was once alive. That isn't a good definition to use because, as we see here, it leads to confusion. In the particular case I used as an example, nitrate is considered an inorganic substance because it is the product of the neutralization of an acid (and microbes play a big role here). The acid in this case was ammonium (NH4), which is considered a weak acid because of it's ability to make a solution more acidic as it releases hydrogens. The nitrate is then an inorganic polyatomic (more than one atom) anion (an ion with a negative charge). And like I said before, this stuff happens over and over again with lots of different compounds. As materials break down, all sorts of acid and base neutralizations (that's a big reason why composting usually pushes the reaction of stuff towards neutral) and oxidation reduction reactions, microbial activity and all sorts of other stuff take place, and inorganic compounds are formed along the way. Back to blood meal. The nitrogen is more available in blood meal than in other nitrogen sources. However, if you're broadcasting it, the nitrogen material still needs to break down and work its way into the soil. It happens pretty quickly, but it still takes some time and doesn't happen all at once. Is that a pretty high rate? Sure. Would I go that high? Probably not. But nitrogen does not present that "specific toxicty" problem we were just talking about. It's the osmotic potential of the stuff. If it is placed on top, works its way into the soil over time, and is accompanied with sufficient irrigation to ensure that there is enough water to over-come the osmotic pull of the nitrogen, the roots shouldn't burn. I say that because I've seen similar rates of blood meal used successfully in the field time and again by different individuals and agencies. I've also seen rates like that burn plants when poorly managed. It depends primarily on the competency of the person applying. Again, would I recommend that rate? No, you can trust people to be competent. Is it a tactical nuclear strike on plants every time? No, it can be managed. As I said previously, it isn't too awful high....See Moreyet another mending the soil question
Comments (16)I don't think I've ever really dug a flower bed. I always put the leaves and other mulching over a spot and then left it alone. In a while, whether a year or maybe just six months, with repeated application of the organic material, the worms dug the bed for me. That's how I've done things for many years. The front half-moon flower bed at this house was not dug. I outlined it and put material from a derelict old garage with no roof on it, on top of the space, and left it alone. Where I could not put a shovel into the ground before, it became quite easy to dig. Of course I buy multiple bags of Black Kow and Mushroom Compost and such as that. (I consider it increasing the amount of property I OWN.) Basically what I have done is an informal version of "lasagna" bed-making. But over time, it sure does get rich and I do not have to worry about drainage. There is a slight slope between our front yard at the street and the long edge of this bed. So it has a natural way to drain. True enough some spots in this part of town have percolation issues. The holes you dig do not drain properly. You can test it yourself by digging a hole, filling it with water, and timing how long it takes to drain. I give you a link to properly checking it for yourself. See below. Hope you solve your drainage issues so you can enjoy growing your hosta. Here is a link that might be useful: Do a percolation test...See MoreYet another question about my family room!
Comments (17)I get the room that only works one way. I would like to be able to do a sofa and chairs or pair of sofas in my FR, but even before we bought the house we knew this room neeed a sectional. Still, it is a pain to try to find one that fits the room. In your room, I would want a pair of matching sofas or a sofa and two chairs. It's hard to know, but it looks like the grey sofa might be shorter than the one you have now - could you do a pair or the same sofa? If chairs, could you do recliners? Not big barcalounger type, but one that looks like regular comfy chair but lets you put your feet up. DH might beat you to the recliner instead and then you'd have your choice of sofa or the other chair. ;-)...See MoreUser
8 years agoNow I'm thinking we will get it. DH loves it and thinks the height is fine. I took some pics of
a little round Stickley table we have that is also 24" high. The barley twist will have about the same visual heft, particularly with the same style top, only in 40" diameter.
User
8 years agoUser
8 years agoYep, I do believe we will go for it. Here's a slightly better photo of the table. I just think it's so pretty! We aren't coffee table foot proppers, but DH especially likes the fact that he'll no longer have to reach DOWN to retrieve something from the table in front of the sofa or chair. Thanks for helping me think this through and offering various opinions! Hopefully I'll be able to get this in our home soon. Yay!
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8 years agoUser
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoUser
8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoMy3dogs - thanks so much for that link! Not sure why I couldn't get it to open properly on my phone, but I can now view the photos and yes, I think a taller coffee table looks just FINE in those settings. Hoping it will also look fine in mine! Here's another pic I found with a tall barley twist - looks to be slightly smaller diameter than the one we'll be getting.
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8 years agolast modified: 8 years agoUser
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8 years ago
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8 years agoDebra W
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