The ideal garden location has loose soil that drains well. If your soil isn't perfect, you can improve it over time by adding organic matter such as compost. Make the garden the right size. Use the following plan as a guideline, substituting crops to suit your own tastes. I always include flowers in my garden because they are beautiful and a joy to cut and bring indoors.
Flowers also attract pollinating insects to the garden.
If you'd rather design your garden from scratch, I recommend plotting it on graph paper. Outline the beds in pencil, then fill in the plant names. Create a garden from your plan. Once you have a plan, you're ready to stake the garden. For best sun exposure, orient the garden so the rows run east to west, with the tallest plants on the north end.