I've had an enjoyable 3+ years now "getting back to basics" by teaching gardening at the local elementary school. We have a veggie garden, and see kids from kindergarten all the way up to 5th grade.
We start out the kindergartners with "soil, water and sun". Since water and sun are easy to provide, for a beginner adult gardener the place to start is learning about soil, in my opinion. Even a kindergartner gets it right when we hold out a handful of our native soil (grey sand) and a handful of compost (our own garden gold) and say "if you were a little plant, which would you rather be planted in".
Miles, contact your County Extension service and see if they have classes or online resources for you about soil, composting and building a good basis for your new garden. It's like building a strong foundation for your house - the right way to start out.
