Any ideas for good gardening

[Nite Owl]

I am moving into my own house and would like to know if anyone has ideas on good flowers that come back yearly that dont take over. Also I was wondering what is a good way of getting a garden that would produce good fruit and veggies.

[Spork!!!]

The most important thing in any garden is the soil. I could recommend plants for where I live, but they may perish or become weeds where you are. Visit your local nursery (not hardware, a plant shop!) and ask them, also a walk around your local area will show you what grows well and suits your taste.

One word of advice, don't do too much removal of existing plants for 1st year, some might give you a pleasant surprise. Also, garden planning is important for the best results and it takes time to know where the sun rises and sets in different seasons, where it gets hot, where it is windy, where it get boggy/wet and dry etc...

Back to the dirt... a little lime (dolomite lime best, garden lime next best, avoid brickies lime etc) and some animal manure, sheep and cow are best, worked into a deturfed, sunny, sheltered patch of topsoil with some kind of edging and you have a veg. patch!
No-dig sounds good, but all the materials cost! Compost your own kitchen scraps, weeds etc. and add that to your soil when it's ready. There are plenty of sites dedicated to gardening on the net, you can find tons of helpful stuff on them.
Hope you have as much fun with it as I do, don't forget the before pics, 'cos when it's finally done it's good to see how much you have achieved. ;)

[Nite Owl]

thanks alot that will surely help me out :)

[Phillthy]

Google permaculture and if you have the cash go buy yourself the permaculture bible, "Permaculture, A designers manual" by Bill Mollison. If you don't have the cash you can build up your library by buying introductions to etc. There are quite a few books now, just make sure that you see Bill Mollisons name on it somewhere.
If you are in Australia there are permaculture groups to join and learn from. Also lookout for something like "Society for growing native plants", joining a group like this will help you learn what plants are ideal for the area you live in.
In a nutshell, permaculture is making yourself the centre of your environment, where everything works for you.
The best part is the NO DIG principle. You start by planing plants that supply nutrients to the soil, break it up and prepare for the following group of plants.
Companion planting is part of this process. You will be amazed at what happens to the soil. I "experimented" over a period of about 10 years, identifying microclimates within my yard and testing different plants and how they grow in each microclimate. I had the benifit of free trees, and literally planted 1000's of them. The soil in the yard was so compacted that after 4 or 5 years the ground level, that started out 4 or 5 inches below the concrete paths, had risen to the same distance above. Careful what you plant and where. Luckily for me I was in an old house that eventually was sold off. The paths all broke up and over half I took away by hand, using these areas for channeling water into wet areas that I had created with the use of all the grey water coming from the house.
Shit I could waffle on for months about it all, but I am no expert. I did however dream about going to Permaculture University, but the Acid and fast times was all too much for me to handle.
Have Fun.