Clean up and weeding are the first order of business, followed by identifying what you have. Leave the pruning until after you know what you are working with (posting photos of the unknowns in the Name that Plant forum will get you the answers) and then do a some simple Google research to learn when and how to prune them. If you have just moved in recently, you may discover all sorts of other plants popping up as the season progresses so I wouldn't be too hasty on clearing things out. And it helps when you are both new to the property and to gardening to allow some time to see how sunlight and shade moves through the garden during the course of the season as that will help you site things correctly.

In the meantime, visit the library or collect some gardening magazines to get inspiration on how to arrange your garden and what other plants to include. You might want to investigate any gardening clubs in your area you could join to get some mentoring from experienced gardeners on what does the best in your area and the best places to get it.

Although the title is rather unfortunate, 'Gardening for Dummies' is an excellent text for a beginning gardener, explaining terminology, soil conditions and other basic gardening info to help you get started. And you can always visit GW with specific questions. We were all in your position at some point in time, so no need to be embarrassed by very basic questions - this is a very helpful place.

One word of warning - getting your hands dirty can be a very addicting enterprise :-)) Good luck and happy gardening!

Well, that back yard does sound like a fun location.... maybe not a blank slate, but you can choose what you like pretty much without having to blend in the previous owners' plants.

Do a bit at a time -- unless you can afford to have a landscaper come in with a crew! 'Tidy up' is first on the list, especially for front yards, just to make you and the neighbors feel better about seeing it. Save the brick pieces and rocks in a plastic garbage can; you may decide to use them in making walkways or edging (mosiac on hypertufa is fun, not expensive, and often looks fabulous). Use care when pulling weeds - be sure it IS a weed. Most gardeners have participated in horror stories that involve pulling up young sprouts that sure looked like weeds, but weren't.

I agree with not pruning just yet; you need to know what you have before you can make good decisions about what to do with it. An exception to that would be to do minimal pruning to remove crossed branches (those that are rubbing on each other), and possibly any branch that is hanging low over a sidewalk (it's no fun to be smacked in the eye with a low branch) although one must be careful about taking off large branchs. You'll need to wait for leaf-out/bloom to see whether the shrubbery would do best with a winter pruning or immediately-after-bloom pruning.

Take photos; not only will before-and-after make you feel good about what you have accomplished, but a few dated photos taken every week will remind you of where shade falls and when, throughout the season. Handy to know when the catalogs come in -- you will find mini-climates here and there, so plants that don't thrive in one spot may do just fine 20' away -- but few can really remember just where the best spot is (and what's already in that spot) during January and February, which is when both you and the catalogs are in dreamy consultation.

When I bought my first house/yard, I decided to play the wait & see what happens for the first year. That let me know what tools I needed to get, how much work I was getting myself into, and I learned A LOT. It also taught me which existing plants I really liked and which ones HAD TO GO! by the next year...

I kept a "garden journal" so I knew what was blooming or coming out of dormancy when, and where things were located. I had a AZ Willow that I thought for sure was dead, but no! It just doesn't bud/leaf out until late-May early June, one of my last plants to get leaves.

In a few open areas, where nothing was previously grown, I set up some planting areas and tried various things I liked the looks of. Some things did great, others not so great, and some were dismal failures. Even some things that are supposedly "easy" plants did terrible, and some of the "picky" plants did great!

Five years later, I still keep garden journals to track the progress of various plantings, and I take a lot of photos so I know where things are - and how well they're doing - that AZ Willow that was only 7-8ft tall when I bought the house is now pushing 30ft.

Most of all - have fun! It's a great way to work out some stress and enjoy the litteral fruits & flowers of your labor!