Post Punk Kitchen Forum

Is there a go to for info on how to start? What to grow how when etc? I want to try vertical gardening and grow food. I'm obsessing over making a hanging indoor herb garden, growing greens and things etc. I've been reading a lot re: winter sowing and recycling and kitchen farming and blah blah blah. Result? I'm totally overwhelmed nd have no idea where to start or how. Ideally I'd like to purchase as little as possible, grow things from scraps and in recycled containers etc. holy shiitake I'm excited and completely lost. Can anyone recommend a good place to check out for vegan gardening for complete idiots? :)

For anything outdoor, you really need to listen to regional advice. If you let us know where you're at, some of us might be of help too. For veganic gardening, there are a lot of links from http://nwveg.org/vgardening.

I just started using smartgardener.com. It helps you figure out a lot about your space and what will work in your area. I am a noob though.

Thanks for this website - looks super cool! :)

Thanks guys! I am in southern Ontario Canada. I didn't even consider mentioning it haha. This will be a great adventure. I found an old hanging shoe organizer that I want to grow herbs in. I'm stupidly excited to grow food. I will check out those links.

I'd do starters for my first garden, personally. I mean, experiment with seeds if you like, but also get some starters and just get used to the lay of the land. Some fun stuff for the first year: tomatoes, kale, string beans, radishes.

I think you'd like the book "Sugar Snaps and Strawberries:
Simple Solutions for Creating Your Own Small-Space Edible Garden
By Andrea Bellamy" it has a lot of great info but is really demystifing and there are symbols next to things that are easy to grow and things that work in a container. And she is a long time balcony gardener and she's Canadian!

I think start small is the best advice though. Maybe start some mint and green onions from plants you already have in the fridge. You can stick a bit of mint in a glass of water and try and get it to grow roots and then plunk it in some potting soil. The hairy ends of green onion bulbs that you would have just cut off anyway can be stuck in the soil as well and will start to grow a new plant. Start composting or maybe do a worm box under the kitchen sink.

I second the starters for the first go around. I have yet to get herbs to survive from seeds.

I personally had the best luck with cucumbers-up a trellis, chard, and smaller tomatoes (grape/roma type). All grew without me doing much.

I always use starters because i've never had a place to grow seeds where the cats won't get at them. I am also a terrible gardener, but i've found that there are plenty of things you can grow with a brown thumb (not green but not black), basically you're growing tomato sauce: tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, basil, rosemary, thyme, and oregano. Cilantro bolts pretty easily. Also I did cucumbers for the first time two years ago and the plants went CRAZY, then this year something attacked my vines at the bottom so I don't know if I was just really lucky that first year.

Also, last year I did kale and collards in pots and they didn't do so hot. The seeds I spilled everywhere, however, did GREAT.

If you're interested in getting a few books, I highly, highly recommend D.G. Hessayon's The [insert whatever you're interested here] Expert. The Vegetable Expert is brilliant for a starter gardener.

Most years I can get tomatoes of various varieties, maybe a couple of peppers, and chives. Chives grow like weeds and never die and area always handy to have fresh. Last year we also had decent field cucumbers and some yellow summer squash. But, pretty much what MBM said.... tomato sauce.

I just ordered Vertical Vegetable Gardening yay! It should be here soon, got my shipping notice already!