517371 Thu May 08 22:11:29 -0700 2008 33 30 Site Talk 0 3670811 A couple of weeks ago, someone on the SF board asked where to find Alpine strawberry plants in the East Bay. My answer--and the question--were deleted. A few days later, I wanted to post about a good source I'd found for Japanese vegetable starts, but I didn't, because I assumed it was considered off-topic. Today, though, a post about basil has been left undeleted, so I am puzzled... Is it okay or not to post about local sources for food plants? Thu May 08 22:11:31 -0700 2008 11231 Glencora 1 3670826 Well, the Chowhound Team doesn't read every single post, and we rely on our community to help us clean up the inappropriate posts. Please use the "report" link to draw them to our attention. Gardening is off topic on all boards on Chowhound. Not because we hate gardeners--some of us are gardeners, too!--but because there's just so much to be said on the topic. It has the potential to really get out of hand, and our primary mission is to share tips on where to find great chow. So, we ask hounds to please save the gardening talk for one of the many fine internet sites that are gardening-oriented. Thanks. Thu May 08 22:17:01 -0700 2008 3670811 2 The Chowhound Team 2 3670868 Maybe a separate gardening board would be a blessing to all? Don't even think it would need to be divided by region as gardeners are broad in their potential interests and knowledge - just call it 'growing food' (oh, yeah, I realize animal husbandry Might come up!). Thu May 08 22:48:09 -0700 2008 3670826 14341 OCEllen 3 3672619 Hmmm, seems that by that logic, there should be a metal workers board, after all, somebody has to make the pots and pans we use, maybe a ceramics board too... Fri May 09 13:07:11 -0700 2008 3670868 10059 ChinoWayne 4 3887814 Are there a lot of metallurgy topics and comments getting deleted from the "cookware" board? My guess is no. On the other hand, a of hounds raise some of their own food. Mon Jul 21 10:00:43 -0700 2008 3672619 138816 jlafler 3 3674393 Check out the forums at gardenweb.com- it's a good site if you want to talk shop with other gardeners. Sat May 10 08:11:58 -0700 2008 3670868 10027 Chris VR 2 4553281 Does this recent thread: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/606792?tag=main_body;topic-606792 which seems to have been started by CHOW change the "off topic" nature of gardening on all boards? It seems to have stayed food related and (IMO) been very helpful. With the economy as it is I suspect this upcoming growing season will have more chowhounds than ever interested in growing their own...generating more queries about herbs, vegetables and such. Mon Mar 30 22:41:48 -0700 2009 3670826 111267 meatn3 3 4553603 We're talking about how we can accommodate discussion about gardening as a result of that thread. Tue Mar 31 05:50:15 -0700 2009 4553281 10021 Jacquilynne 4 4553949 Thanks for the update! Tue Mar 31 08:08:45 -0700 2009 4553603 111267 meatn3 4 4559087 Did including an "expert" on indoor herb planting play a role in the decision to consider accommodating a "plant" discussion? Having an expert added a great give & take flow to the thread. High praise to the CH that thought of it. Wed Apr 01 16:43:06 -0700 2009 4553603 36312 HillJ 4 4571397 Im grateful for this since for many exotic food items growing your own is one of the best (if not in some cases only) resources for obtaining delicious ingredients. Not to mention economical. For those of us for whom gardening has always been closely entertwined with cooking and eating pleasure, my thanks. Mon Apr 06 08:29:02 -0700 2009 4553603 11130 jen kalb 4 4572867 Yet a discussion of sourcing and growing culinary herbs in Phoenix was deleted today? Maybe the answer is because it was the Southwest board? But we have a very unique and challenging growing climate here so it really is topically relevant? Or? Mon Apr 06 15:48:43 -0700 2009 4553603 16406 ziggylu 5 4573060 We're still discussing options. But in general, discussing gardening will be off topic for individual regional boards, even if we choose to allow discussion on another board. Mon Apr 06 16:46:58 -0700 2009 4572867 10021 Jacquilynne 6 4587466 OP here. I actually think that posting on local boards about sourcing herbs or plants is less off-topic than posting about gardening in general because it is about finding good food. The question "Where can I find alpine strawberry plants in the East Bay?" seems pretty much like asking for a good source of goat meat or fresh peas. I think general gardening topics are less useful because gardening is so local. There was a gardening thread a year or so ago that degenerated into "Started my tomatoes here in California." "Wow, it's too cold here in Vermont for that." The thread was removed -- rightfully, in my opinion. Sat Apr 11 12:15:13 -0700 2009 4573060 11231 Glencora 1 3670833 My local board had an announcement about an Herb Festival a few weeks ago. As a new resident of the area & a frequent home cook I was very happy to learn of the event. I hope food plant source posts are allowed, especially since some of the lesser known items can be so hard to track down. Thu May 08 22:21:01 -0700 2008 3670811 111267 meatn3 2 3673216 I would think an herb festival would be ok, because herbs are a food immediately. You can race home and cook with them. That's probably why basil is fine, but strawberries are verboten. Fri May 09 16:02:01 -0700 2008 3670833 13722 small h 1 3672738 Thanks for the reply. While I stilll think that it would be nice to be able to post pointers about where to find unusual food plants locally, I can see that keeping the posts from turning into gardening discussions would be way too much work for the moderators. Fri May 09 13:40:33 -0700 2008 3670811 11231 Glencora 1 3676573 Recently a "do you know your herbs" linked from another site was posted as a thread and great fun was had by all aftering reading & completing the questions. How CH's did on the questions was discussed at length-never pulled by Mods. That thread was a fun read and it never dawned on me it was off topic. Sun May 11 09:45:16 -0700 2008 3670811 36312 HillJ 2 3676585 Wasn't that about identifying herbs though - that one might use in cooking - rather than about growing them? Sun May 11 09:48:58 -0700 2008 3676573 10985 MMRuth 3 3676634 The answers to the quiz ran the gamut but a discussion was both on and off cooking and the original off site link also discussed herbs in a variety of ways thru Q&A. I enjoyed the information the thread generated. http://www.chowhound.com/topics/512284 here, decide for yourself. Sun May 11 10:12:07 -0700 2008 3676585 36312 HillJ 4 3677070 I did take the quiz on there and posted on that thread a while back - that's why I remembered it - didn't seem to me to be about gardening, though I've not been back to that thread much since then. Sun May 11 14:01:07 -0700 2008 3676634 10985 MMRuth 5 3887825 I think most of the gardening comments were integrated into the general discussion, which is probably why they didn't get deleted. Mon Jul 21 10:02:43 -0700 2008 3677070 138816 jlafler 1 3887849 I found this topic while looking to see if the idea of a gardening board has ever been discussed. It seems like a good idea to me, especially since there is already quite a lot of gardening discussion on the boards, not all of which gets deleted. I think it's something worth considering, especially since it seems that, with rising food prices, more people are raising some of their food. Yes, there are other places online to discuss gardening; there are also other places online to discuss wine and spirits. And I'm not just saying this because a question I asked about worm composting got deleted from the "not about food" board. Mon Jul 21 10:09:07 -0700 2008 3670811 138816 jlafler 2 3902645 I just saw this thread - maybe it says something that I dont usuallylook on site talk any more. It seems to me wrongheaded to ban posts that essentially are talking about ways of getting the food/ingredients you need - I remember the days of looking for oriental ingredients, kaffir lime leaves perhaps, where sharing sources of the trees were very helpful. Likewise exotic basil or tomato plants, really any number of things. In fact I was just thinking about posting about the ultimate basil plant I have been growing for the last couple of years, till I ran into this post (its a greek columnar basil, minette or minarette, enuf delicious leaves on that one plant for a whole summer of salads, and no flower set). Cooking (maybe not restaurant eating) and gardening go hand in hand - after all we cooks certainly dont all buy basil by the bunch or meyer lemons by the single item. Talking about sources of culinary plants, like those basil and kafir lime plants I mentioned - how is that different from sources of chocolate or salami or already ripened tomatoes?? I would urge the moderators to keep an open mind and maybe direct these kinds of posts over to underutililized general chowhounding, say, or home cooking. cheers! Fri Jul 25 19:32:58 -0700 2008 3887849 11130 jen kalb 1 4567820 Dunno, food-related gardening seems relevant to me. I mean, as long as people aren't discussing their prize-winning roses or what type of manure to use, "where to find good food" extends to the answer "in the garden" to me. Sat Apr 04 15:00:29 -0700 2009 3670811 153184 im_nomad 2 4573368 Not that anyone asked, but I really think asking where you can buy a certain variety of tomato plant is not that different from asking where you can buy that type of tomato off the vine. In the second case you just have to wait longer to use the tomato. I didn't see why the tomato plant question is a 'gardening' question or why it would necessarily migrate toward "gardening" any more than lots of other 'approved' questions migrate off topic. The issue made seems to be one of keeping a topic on track rather than the food relevance of the initial question. My perspective would be that growing tomatoes or basil or whatever in a pot on your deck or patio is not gardening but a minor expansion on ingredient sourcing. Do you moderators really think it would be more likely to wander into soil conditions and fertilizers? Mon Apr 06 18:21:48 -0700 2009 4567820 11405 Midlife 1 4573245 We just lost a potentially useful herb gardening thread on the Southwest board. The mods might do well to reconsider the policy regarding these kinds of posts, unless "chow", for the purposes of this site, is narrowly defined as food raised by and purchased from someone else. Mon Apr 06 17:40:17 -0700 2009 3670811 86822 hohokam 2 4573292 Gardening has long been considered off-topic on the site, but we are considering it and working on a plan to accommodate it. Mon Apr 06 17:54:36 -0700 2009 4573245 10021 Jacquilynne 3 4573297 Sorry about that. Somehow the other subthread escaped my notice. Thanks for the prompt reply. Mon Apr 06 17:55:58 -0700 2009 4573292 86822 hohokam 3 4587190 I agree with the upthread suggestion of an additional thread to cover gardening but would suggest it be framed as "grow my own", just because urban/suburbanites are beginning to think about keeping a couple of chickens for the eggs, a goat for the milk, etc. Sat Apr 11 10:05:50 -0700 2009 4573292 159317 greygarious 1 4594229 Thanks to the Chowhound Team for coming up with a solution to the concerns. I hope the new board helps users and mods alike. :-) Tue Apr 14 08:10:00 -0700 2009 3670811 86822 hohokam 2 4594997 How wonderful! CH, thanks for being responsive and open to re-examination of the topic! Tue Apr 14 11:43:26 -0700 2009 4594229 111267 meatn3 3 4595030 ditto! thats super. was the addition of the gardening board announced? I dont think I would have noticed unless I looked at my posts. Tue Apr 14 11:50:59 -0700 2009 4594997 11130 jen kalb 4 4595064 Right here: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/611738 Tue Apr 14 11:58:13 -0700 2009 4595030 10021 Jacquilynne