Any tips for a beginner?

We're just about to embark on our first-ever veggie patch and I wondered 
if anyone might have some tips for us? The reason we haven't started 
before is that our block is boggy and spongy when the winter rains come, 
yet arid and awful in the heat of summer. It finally dawned on me that a 
raised (about 60cm or more) bed might be the answer! So, that's what 
we'd like to do: build up a well-raised bed and then see if we can 
reduce the grocery bill by growing some veggies.

I've read lots of material about permaculture and no-dig gardens (they 
come with a recipe for layering that seems pretty impossible - I mean, I 
don't know any sheep, so I won't be getting sheep-poo any time soon...) 
My thoughts were to lay something drainy ('aggregate'? chitter? etc?) 
and then pile on some organic mix soil (purchased at Great Cost from a 
local bloke who sells it). We've got some recycled planks to make the 
walls of the garden and a few years' worth of rotted grass clippings for 
mulching.

Is there anything else I should know? What can I plant nowish (within, 
say, the next month)? And is there anything mentioned above that sounds 
wrong? I'd be *really* grateful for any feedback you can offer and hope 
this might prompt a bit of a discussion on the ways in which others have 
started their gardens.


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Trish {|:-} Newcastle, NSW, Australia