I am a new gardener with some questions. I bought a house and i
have gotten the gardening bug! Being cheap,lol....i'd like to know
what is the best way to start. Should i come up with a plan or just
start?

First thing to do -- find out what USDA Plant Hardiness zone you live in
(I'm assuming you're in the US). This will tell you what types of plants
you can grow. For example, a plant that is rated to zone 8 will not survive
in zone 5. The USDA zone is based on winter conditions. About.Com has a
nice little set up for this, including some brief descriptions of gardening
in each zone, at:

http://gardening.about.com/cs/zones/

If you are in a particularly warm area, look for your Sunset zone as well.

Second thing to do -- look at your neighbors' landscapes. What kinds of
plants do they have growing? Which ones appeal to your interests? Bear in
mind, we're in the dog days of summer so you're not likely going to see much
in the way of blooming -- spring is best for that of course -- but there
will be many that are blooming or have excellent foliage.

Third thing to do -- map out your property and get an idea of how much sun
each area gets during the day. Note how the rainfall distributes as well.
This will help you as you actually figure out what to put where throughout
your landscape.

Lastly, get on a few catalog mailing lists and check your local nurseries.
These will be good sources of plant ideas.

If I were you, I'd wait until next spring to REALLY dig in. Put a couple of
trees or shrubs in for now, but wait until the spring so you can see what is
blooming.

I have a neighbor who is willing to give me some daylillies
in exhange for my help with her yard. I think it is a fantastic trade
off....
How did you start your garden?

Well, that's a loaded question. Initially, I started looking at nurseries
and home improvement stores at the trees they had and just picked a few I
liked, then stuck 'em in the ground. This was after I also went through and
ripped out every aspect of the landscape that I didn't like growing up (I
bought my folks home when they moved -- good west side boy).

After all that, THEN I started actually planning things out. Over the
last few years we've tried a variety of shrubs, roses, and perennials in
various parts of the yard. Some have fared well, some not so well, some
were destroyed by neighborhood strays. A couple of years ago I took a
little extra time out and plotted out what was going to be the changes in
the front yard landscape in the following couple of years. I've just
recently started implementing the formal design (health problems) but I have
an actual sketching to go by. It will be modified a bit here and there, but
the gist of it will remain the same.

I'm also focusing on gardening and conservation. We have two foci here --
first and foremost is for the wildlife. We have been sizing up a variety of
plants that produce fruits and berries that will feed local bird, squirrel,
and other wildlife populations throughout the winter. Secondly, we are
looking at shrubs and trees for their windbreaking and soil erosion fixing
uses. We want privacy of course, but that's really not as important as
getting trees on our northern side of the home to keep it cool in the
summer, or trees and shrubs to grab the cold winter winds and deflect them
away from the house.

Remember too that plants are just one part of a landscape -- there's a whole
bunch of things you can do to be creative and really put your personal touch
on the garden. Globes, statuettes, or other art type objects go great in
the garden. You'll want to start thinking about adding one or more water
features like a pond or at least a bird bath or two as well. You might want
to create an outdoor room -- an area with a bench and a particular viewpoint
you enjoy. Stone or lumber can be used to build raised beds or outline
walkways, mulch can become the pathways you use.

There are LOTS of neat things for you as a gardener -- you're going to have
a blast.

James