Chantel,
I think my advice would be to start with a small area and develop a method that is successful. Then you can add as you go. Ask me how I know this. :)

My next thought is amend, amend, amend as you've already mentioned.
I live with sandy soil and water/nutrient nutrition one of are my main issues. In my zone (which, admittedly is much different than yours), I am learning which plants are happy and which will never be successful for me. Think native, too.

I know you'll have lots of responses and I look forward to following your project. You will have a great time! Have fun and happy gardening.

Pam

Did you consider bringing in loads of topsoil?

Have you already searched this Forum and the others you frequent with words like: amendments, mulch, watering, sowing? The Forums are full of excellent suggestions.

My meadow trial of simply overseeding a 40x40' plot of good soil resulted in some flowers and lots of weeds and grass, which I expected. I didn't water. I'm spending time to pull the grass; many of the weeds are winter annuals, which die out here. The next wave of weeds will be shaded out by the successful spring flowers. It isn't very pretty, except for the toadflax, which volunteered.

Nell

If your soil is sand and rocks I would consider doing raised beds. You can edge them with anything that you have plenty of laying around, like rocks, tree branches, Old boards etc. Once you have the outside of the raised bed in place line the bottom, covering the bad soil with cardboard or layers of thick, wet newspaper. This will smother out most weeds and grasses that are growing there right now. If you are purchasing stuff for planting mix, you might want to try the recipe that is given on Mel's Square Foot Gardening web site. If memory serves me, it is 1 part compost, 1 part vermiculite and 1 part peat moss. It will make a very light weight planting medium. Mound it up in your bed and plant in it. Each season you will just need to add a helping of compost and mix it in around your existing plants to keep the nutrients up to a proper level. This will save you a lot of back breaking labor! Best wishes!

MeMo

Every time I have started new gardens they didn't do very well the first couple of years. I think the very act of tilling, adding compost, planting seeds and watering enriches the soil and attracts the beneficial fungi & earthworms and stimulates the microbial life of the soil. It takes usually three to four years to really begin to see the results of all your hard work. The most important thing to remember with new gardens is to not be discouraged by lackluster results. Your work will pay off. Give the soil time to come alive and the plants will improve each year. Cheryl