It is typical when you start a garden to think of the final result. You look at your yard and see flourishing bushes and tall flowers waving elegantly in the wind. Or if it is a vegetable garden, you see the tomatoes hanging ripe and red. While you need to see the final goal in your mind, you have to be careful not to bite off more than you can chew. In other words, start small.

It is better to find out how much work is involved on a small garden plot before you become so overwhelmed with a large garden that you would rather not look at it. A nice plot about 4 or 5 feet square would be suitable. Mark it out and if there is grass on top, remove it. Even if you are tempted to get a tiller and till the garden, grass and all, resist this temptation. Remove the grass. I use a square tipped spade and cut through the sod in 1 foot squares and then use the square tip to lift off the square of sod.

Turn over the sod and make sure there are no weeds in it. If the ground is really hard, soak it with water. This is a good time to add compost and mix it in with the soil as you turn it over. Keep the ground damp as you work it and when you go to plant, make sure the ground is well watered.

Now the ground is ready. Are you? Have you decided what to grow? The best advice for someone starting a garden is to keep it simple. Do not try to grow something exotic and unusual. Keep your creativity for the layout of the garden. Make sure you will be able to reach the middle of the garden to pull weeds without trampling the plants.

Finally you are ready to head to the nursery and buy some plants. Ask how tall the plants will grow because you do not want short plants in the middle of the garden and tall ones ranged around the outer edges of the garden.

When you get home, set the plants in the garden approximately where they are going to be planted and rearrange them until you can visualize the results and feel good about the potential of your garden.

Now you are ready to plant. Get a bucket of water and a cup or scoop of some sort. An old tin can is what I use. Dig a hole big enough and deep enough for each plant, pour some water into the hole and pop in the plant. Pat the earth around the plant and tamp it down.

There. You have started your garden.