Gary, most likely your garden will be a "work in progress" for quite a while (if not forever). Some things will work, some won't; that's just the nature of gardening, I'm afraid.
You could also consider covering the area with a nice layer of mulch (wood chips or something of the sort), and then using plants in large pots -- which you could switch out if you weren't happy with the "look."
Whatever you decide to do, be prepared for some successes and some failures -- it really IS a process!
