Patricia Lanza got carried away with her layers of stuff gardening and ended up making over 60 gardens. She wisely advises, though, that you start with just one. 

I like her approach in dealing with new gardens on sodded or weed full places. She just places wet newspapers over them and then covers that with a layer of peat moss. She layers garden matter on top of that and then more peat moss. It is a pretty informal system that allows a wonderful garden to emerge in a short amount of time.

This book is chock full of tips and timesavers and her favorite varieties of veggies and fruits. She creates not only herb and vegetable gardens, but gets creative and gives you guidelines for every thing from white gardens to edible flower gardens.