Neil Kaufman, the Sustainable Dallas College urban agriculture assistant director, will attend the 12th annual Sustainability Summit on November 4, online or in person (Brookhaven Campus), to discuss how to start or improve a garden.

He says, “You have just finished a documentary on food waste or reading an article about personal food resiliency, and have decided that you are now a gardener. Welcome to the club! The first questions you should be asking are: What do I want to get out of my garden? How much time, money and space am I willing to put into my garden? And exactly how delicious would carrot cake taste if I used carrots that I grew and harvested myself?”

First, calibrate inputs with the outputs. The kind of backyard garden that feeds the neighborhood requires an immense amount of time, talent and luck. However, if all we really want is to have a few fresh herbs on hand, there is a lot less to consider.

The resources question is the most critical. Highly productive gardens are not free. They require lots of weeding, watering, fertilizing, quality supplies and endless learning and patience. This takes time, money and space. Quality tools and equipment will go a lot further than their cheaper counterparts. But don’t imagine buying the way to bumper crops; we still have to work for it.

When scouting for a space, keep in mind that vegetable gardens generally require more sun than the average ornamental plant—six to eight hours of full sun per day. If we don’t have a yard, consider a community garden. This all may seem daunting, so start small. Try planting a few rows and expand from there.

It is very important to plan ahead by at least three months. This gives enough time to amend the soil, mitigate weeds and plant seeds, rather than more expensive transplants. Some crops, when planted early enough, can even produce a second round of vegetables per season. Consult the Texas AgriLife Extension Vegetable Planting Guide (Tinyurl.com/NTX-PlantingTimes) for specific information on when and how to plant.

Kaufman shares, “There’s still much more to consider before replacing your entire backyard with raised beds. For example, you should be roughly familiar with choosing crop varieties, organic fertilizer do’s and don’ts, integrative pest management and season extenders, to name a few. Successful gardeners are always learning, both from others and from the mistakes they have made in the past. Patience and curiosity are important virtues for gardeners to practice. The discipline comes from imagining how that garden-fresh carrot cake will taste.”

Register at DallasCollege.edu/sustainability/summit (choose the “In the Environment” breakout session.)