If this is your first time gardening, the best advice I can give is "Start Small". I know you’re enthusiastic, but putting in a huge garden when you have little experience is an equation for getting overwhelmed, frustrated and giving up on gardening altogether.

First – buy tomato and pepper plants – little starters in a 3-pack or 4-pack. One pack each. They’ll be available from your local garden center a few weeks before it’s warm enough to plant them. Ask the workers there when the best time to actually put them in the ground is. The date is different for different areas.

Starting some plants from seeds is a whole learning curve – you can pick up that skill in the future. For now – let the nursery do that work A 3 or 4-pack of plants are usually $2-3. Not expensive.

Zuccini and cucumber you can buy packs of seed for. Plant them directly in the ground according to the package. The ground needs to be thoroughly warm, with no chance of frost. They germinate and grow very quickly.

Garlic – plant in the fall, about the same time you’re planting your fall flower bulbs. Separate the bulbs into the individual cloves of garlic. Plant each clove tip up, about 2 inches down. Well-drained soil, sunny spot. You’ll see green shoots in late fall/early winter. Then in spring, they grow like gangbusters. Harvest when the tops die back halfway – usually July. There should be a whole bulb of garlic where each clove was planted. They’re easy and fun.

Onions you can plant right now. Get onion sets from the garden center.

One more tip – and common new-gardener mistake is s-p-a-c-i-n-g. The tomato and pepper plants are about 6 to 8" high when you plant them. It’s hard to imagine them getting BIG – but really…you want 2 1/2 to 3 feet between each plant. Trust me. The Zuccinni mounds will take up a space about 3-4 feet across. Cucumbers…best to have them climb up a trellis or something. You can construct something simple with bamboo, sitcks, string…