I did add some water but only enough to blend the garlic and ginger root along with some of the herbs and dried chili peppers. I wanted to make sure that those things were distributed among the veggies as equally as possible. The salt I eyeballed. I would add some veggies to the bucket then sprinkle some Celtic Sea Salt and repeated the process until done. I then added my puree and mixed everything up by hand, I also pressed down hard on the veggies so as to compact them, after which I placed a salad plate over the veggies. I also placed a gallon filled with water to pressure the veggies so they would begin to release the brine and so that the gases would escape. Lastly I placed a clean towel over it all to keep out flies and dust. If the veggies are not covered with their own brine juice by the next day then a little water is recommended. The brine is what is supposed to keep them safe from mold, and the salt is what activates the fermentation. The whole process took me less than an hour.
I recommend the book Wild fermentation for a more detailed explanation. The ingredients I used were the ingredients off the jar of kimchhe from Rejuvenative. With the exception of the spinach. I threw that in because i had some on hand.
Hope this helps!