I'm by no means a gardening expert but I do garden on a large piece of property. Most soil needs to be ammended in order for your plants to thrive and different plants require different soils. Many plants will grow in plain dirt but they won't be lush. Sunlight for at least half the day is necessary for a veggie garden and it looks like that won't be a problem in your yard. You can find blooming and foliage plants for any light conditions. Many nurseries employ garden designers and I'd recommend having one of them take a look at your yard to give you some ideas. Gardening magazines and websites are also good resources for design ideas. Those brick circles could make a pretty little focal garden depending on your taste and what you do in the rest of your yard. Gardens will also change over time. Many perennials take a couple seasons to really establish themselves. You could fill a perennial bed with lots of annuals until the perennials reach full size. Good luck, have fun making your yard beautiful.

and give yourself a break! Rome wasn't built in a day.

If you don't want to do much work, just scatter some wildflower mix in a patch and they will grow...we're moving this year so that's what I plan to do! Or you could so come really eacy seeds like just scatter some cosmos, or other seeds and you'll have a patch! as for veggies, scatter some beans to fix some nitrogen into the soil, but if you want carrots you HAVE TO till your soil, or your carrots will grow crocet (the roots go through teh finer soil and they don't like going through tough soil) try veggies that don't need a lot of work, lettuce always works well! Or do what I plant to do, just put everything in containers over the bed. but I'm more of a flowers person so I can't help you much with veggies. If you want some flowers that you can just scatter and watch them grow, email me! kennyso25@gmail.com

BTW, I'm in ontario, hey fellow canuck! I know what you meacn by an unexpectable winter!