How exciting! I've been in a house with a garden for almost a year now, for the first time in the 16-odd years since I left my parents' home, and it's wonderful to be able to grow your own food, and plate up the family's meal and be able to say, 'and of course the salad is entirely from our garden.'

I find that Australian books on vegie gardening are of limited use since the climate is so variable in different areas - Most websites are as bad, if not worse, because they relate to other countries as well! The best website I know for what to plant for your part of Australia, and when to plant it, is 'gardenate' (google it!). I also love my 'Perth Edible Gardeners' facebook group, but that's no good to you. I would suggest you make a point of going to the working bees, like the one this weekend, and meeting the people who are gardening right next to you with the same climate, soil type, pests and weeds, etc, and ask their advice. They're likely to have some spare seeds they're willing to share, and will also know the books/websites/facebook groups that are best for your area. Often people will share costs for products you both need, like delivery of large amounts of compost or mulch, or whatever, too.

The main piece of advice I benefited from, right at the start, was to plant seedlings of a quick-to-harvest crop or two so that you see the benefit of your work fast, which really helps to maintain your enthusiam. I planted a couple of punnets of mixed 'cut and come again' lettuces, and was harvesting enough for several salads a week within a month or so. A few of my crops from seed never came up at all (like the spinach and the cauliflower) and I can't imagine how dispirited I would have been if these had been my starter crops.