Here I'll chronicle some of what worked and what didn't so you can get your own garden, of whatever size, up and growing quickly.
I wanted to create a space that was ...
1. Safe from deer, we have a lot
2. Close enough to get a hose to water it
3. Had Rich, Productive soil
Because a lot of soil was disturbed when we built our house, and due to a high clay content in the area where we decided to put the garden, we had to start from scratch. Now, there is a lot you can and should do with cover crops to improve the soil and we'll touch on that in a later post, but I felt like time was of the essence, had a pile of topsoil to spread and the means to spread it. Then I added the mushroom mulch on top and worked it into the topsoil. While this turned out to be an effective solution, starting you garden on previously undisturbed ground is likely the better option. Here is a triaxle load of well aged organic mushroom compost that was delivered. Yes, this was overkill.
Using mushroom compost to increase the bio-available nutrients and general suitability of the soil worked for us. If you do use mushroom compost, make sure it's been aged at least 1 year, 2 or more would be better.
The soil is everything. The healthier your soil, the healthier your produce, the healthier the people that eat that produce will be.