Establishing a garden is an enjoyable hobby and brings rewards of not only fresh vegetables but beautiful flowers. Front yards are generally decorated with flowers and tress which can be grown in beautifully designed landscapes or simply hanging baskets or in containers. So where to start:

• If you already have a garden, then clean it up, remove the dead leaves and rototill up to a depth of 6-8 inches. If you have too busy to rent a rototiller then use a small shovel and dig up the soil. Basically the soil should not be compact, it should be loose. Add a bag of peat moss or compost or garden soil which you can buy from garden centres.
• If you have never done any gardening before, then you have to work little harder to remove the grass and add some peat moss or compost and incorporate in the soil. You can put a nice fence around the garden patch to keep the rabbits out. You can prepare a soil bed above the grass by putting a weed cloth barrier which are readily available from garden centres. Remember you don't necessarily need soil to grow flowers and vegetables. Growing in containers is getting quite easy and practical. It means you are growing in pots. Here is an example of 5 gallon plastic pots with a soilless growing medium and growing vegetables and herbs. Water soluble fertilizers are used to provide needed nutrients. These pictures are from a backyard garden of an Ahmadi family. That first fruit of your labour, in this case a zucchini is very rewarding. 
• Next step is to buy plant material. Following pictures show what you can buy.

For beginners try these two types of plants. On your left and pansies and they come in a variety of colors. Involve your children to choose colors. The flowers look like a human face, a smiling face. They are cold hardy plants and will tolerate cold nights. One the right side are marigolds and come in different sizes and many different colors. Choose the varieties which are smaller in size (dwarf).

• Push them out of the packs they are in. They have lots of roots. Loosen the roots little bit and then dig a hole and bury them up to the stem level. Gently press the soil around them and water them good. Make any arrangements you want, plant them in circles, plant them in lines, spell your name with them and they will flower for long time.
• You can choose so many different types of plants and colors. The only thing to watch for that plant them in areas where they are most suited to in terms of sunlight. These plants carry name tags and information as to Full Sun, Full Shade, Partial Sun/Shade, Heat tolerant and cold tolerant. So know your front or back garden areas where there is going to be sunlight at least for 6-8 hours, and areas where there is going to be shade for longer period of time and also the areas where it is going to be very hot. 

Maintaining your plants and gardens:

• If growing a garden in soil, then make sure that you water them when the top three inches of soil appear to be dry. Many times there is enough rain to supply water needed to grow. Small amounts of fertilizers should be used to supply nutrients needed for plant growth. Pick up a water soluble fertilizer like 20-20-20 or similar number, dissolve one tablespoon full in 4 gallons of water in a water can and give it to plants by wetting the soil. This can be given once a week.
• If you are using pots and containers then use the same amount of fertilizer as above but twice a week. Potted plants dry out much faster than those in soil.
• Many types of insects will want there "share" as well. Follow simple cultural practices like knocking them out with a hose or many organic products are available from garden centres. If you are using any pesticides than make sure they are not inside the house. They should be kept outside out of reach of children.
• In cloudy weather diseases can also come and attack plants. You can send pictures to secretary zirat and help can be provided to diagnose the problem and suggest solution.