Gardening in containers is an excellent way to get started. They need watering more often, though, so don’t forget that.

If you intend to live in one location five years or more, it might be worthwhile to improve your garden site with lots of compost, as in the book “Lasagne Gardening”. If your soil is hard-baked clay or dry sand you obviously won’t do well just adding the normal amount of compost like you would in a fertile, well-watered area like the country you grew up in. It’ll probably take truckloads of baled hay, manure, and other compostable stuff to make a difference in even a small plot. Containers are definately easier in that sense.