Despite their unfortunate titles, the "Gardening for Dummies" series is a great place to start. These are written in the same vein as all the "for Dummies" books - you might be more familiar with the computer and software based titles - and are basic informational texts. There's a number dedicated to gardening, but I'd recommend "Vegetable Gardening for Dummies". It should provide basic soil requirements, bed preparation, seed starting, growing requirements, what to grow, when to harvest, etc. You can get them at Amazon or most larger book stores (Barnes and Noble).

And contacting the local extension service might be of value - they typically have localized publications or information sheets available for free or a minimal fee.

Here is a link that might be useful: Vegetable Gardening for Dummies