Know the requirements of your chosen plantings. You don’t want to put a rose bush in the shade, for example, if you want blooms. Roses want sunshine.

Know your good garden pests and bad garden pests. There is no point in battling a beneficial insect. There is also no point in allowing a marauder to remain in your garden.

Learn to recognize weeds vs. your plantings. There is nothing more heartbeaking than tearing our your seedlings thinking they are weeds. Or leaving a weed to flourish thinking you planted it :p Been there. Done that.

This site gives alot of descriptions, pictures and ideas for trees , shrubs and flowers….

This site has it all….LOTS of info on growing everything in Arizona and more….

Otherwise visit your local greenhouse and they will be more than happy to show you what you need.

Good Luck!

the best fertiliser in the world is the manure that comes from earth worms,if you mulch your garden you will get worms automatically

all manure is good to add ,cow,rabbit, and horse is the mildest and you can put it on directly.
chicken is more acidy and is best to mix with saw dust or earth ,you cannot put too much manure in your garden,it will just get richer and richer,

but to prevent smell mix it well with the ground or with something else before you put it on like sand or earth or sawdust and you should put on mulch ,this will also prevent smell.
for get about chemicals it is the easiest way but also the worst and in the end the soil suffers,

utric acid or nitrogen is good ,this is animal urine,
farmers now put gutters in their stables to collect it and put it on the land especially fot the grassy type species.

this is a note on mulch in general for your interrest

cut down the weeds before they produce seeds and leave them where they fall,they will cover the ground and put even more organic matter on top,you can use saw dust,leaves green or dry,and when you plant make a little space and plant in the mulch.this is the easiest quickest and by far most benificial way(for the quality of you soul)to prepare the land for planting

to prevent weeds from coming all you have to do it turn out the lights,you can even use cardboard or black plastic(this is good for strawberries because they will rot if they touch humid ground,and the bugs can get to them).

MULCH
what you do is to cover the ground with mulch which is the same principal as compost but it includes the whole garden surface
the top part of the soil where the topsoil is being produced houses a world or microbiotic life.

Mulch is organic material green or dry that covers the ground,the thicker the better the composting process will turn it in to black topsoil

the humidity is preserved underneath and promotes the devellopment of worms(their exists no better compost than their excrements)and a variety of micro biotic life which together with the mulch produce more topsoil.

the mulch also keeps the ground temperature even and guards against the impact of the rain ,which would other wise brings salt to the surfave if on unprotected land

Mulch also prevents the soil from drying out because of the sun and, lay it open to wind erosian.

and it turn out the lights for any weeds that want to come up
do not use chemicals because the water will wash them into the ground and if enough people did that, you would be guilty of helping to contaminate subteranean water suplies that other people could be pumping up to drink

and make a compost heap to accomodate al the organic rubbish that you end up with ,both from the gartden and house.(70 %of contamination comes from organic wastes that are mixed with the plastics etc.
so it is better to turn it into something useful
,
a short note on compost,
dig a shallow hole ,bowel shaped and dump you leaves and cuttings into it plus
all organic material is good for a compost heap,eggshels,wood,paper,bones…
leaves,pineneedles sawdust,

keep the compost moist,have it in a shady place,like under a tree or built a little roof.
you can add a little lime at times,cover it with leaves or plastic to keep the moisture in.

we add red earth worms(californiana)which are surface eaters,the more worms, the quicker the decomposition and the richer the compost.

this is where i am coming from– Permaculture
i got some more stuff in my,
yahoo 360 degrees
and in the spaces

of course you would only use tires that are no good for the road anymore – ie you are saving them from being thrown in a landfill

To kill the weeds you have now, use Weed B Gon.

First, go to Scotts.com and click on the “annual program” link. It will ask you for your zip code and grass type and, based on that, will give you feedback on what to put down and when.

Generally, you should put down a preemergent in early spring. Do that now if you haven’t already. One of the easiest to find is Scotts Turfbuilder with HALTS (aka “Step 1″). Put down Turfbuilder with Plus 2 weed control (aka: “Step 2″) in early June. Then put down an insecticide (BugBGon), and GrubEx in mid to late June. Sometime in the next month or so, have a soil test done, and add soil ammendments as needed during the next few months to get the soil in shape for seeding.

At the end of the summer (late August or early September), core aerate your lawn, then apply a good, quality seed and starter fertilizer. Water it lightly twice a day. Not too much, just enough to keep the soil a little damp – 5-10 minutes should be enough. When the seed germinates, cut back the watering to once a day for another week or so.

When you do your last mowing (around Thanksgiving here in the Wash. DC area), put down a winterizer.

Come next spring, you’ll be well on your way. Stick with the Scott’s program from there and overseed again next fall if necessary.