One thing to consider is availability of water in the site you chose. Close to a downspout is nice if you are building a garden bed (rather than a raised bed). If that is not possible to do, consider putting in a rain catching device - 50 gallon barrels with all the plumbing bits can be bought online and at some home stores (if you live where it is dry and water is expensive this is recommended). Go to your local garden stores or, if your area has one, arboretum or city garden. See what is planted there - there has been a move towards indigenous plants - stuff that occurs naturally in your area. Those kinds of plants will be more able to tolerate the 'pests' in your area, the weather conditions, and the strength of the sun. Think about what you want to achieve by planting your garden; would you like hummingbirds and butterflies? If so, plant stuff that those creatures like. DO you want something aromatic? If so, plant herbs - you can eat them when you aren't enjoying their smells and textures. As far as removing grass, one trick to use instead of putting chemicals on grass to kill it is to lightly spray regular vinegar on the area where you want to grass to die. I believe in 2 to 3 weeks after you do this, you can hoe up the dead grass, add nutrients to the dirt, and plant your garden. If using the vinegar trick, try to do it on a sunny, warmish day - it works better. You might also want to assess the kind of soil you have. We have clay and so can't grow lots of stuff we would like to grow. Soil can be ammended - you can haul material in to make your soil more friendly to plants. We like to mulch our autumn leaves in to our veggie garden. We've added about 6 inches of loamy, rich soil in just 4 years doing this. Your neighbors will love you in the fall - just ask them for those bags of leaves, wait until they have dried out a bit, then dump them onto your garden beds. Run the lawn mower over them and presto! Instant organically rich soil. Also, it helps to know what kind of water you have. By that I mean what is the PH factor. Not that you can do much about that - rain falls from the sky so that does not matter. But if you have treated city water, it can contain lots of salt - you may need to adjust the PH in soil for salt. Gardening is creating a mini-environment. It is your own little world, in your yard. You can make it whatever you want. Just take time to give it thought, dream about what you think would be nice, figure out which of those garden dreams are doable, and Create! good luck! and happy green thumb! :D