Check out Mel Bartholomew's "Square Foot Gardening" book. You can get it online or at Home Depot. This uses raised beds marked off in square feet, with a blend of vermiculite (hard to find so check around), mushroom mulch, peat moss, and at least 1 other kind of mulch. This way you don't have to worry about the quality of your local soil or what might be in it.
We are growing our own garden for the first time this year and decided to follow his plan. With just a 5'x12' plot, our family of 5 is already eating salads almost every night, plus strawberries, etc. Our garden is going gangbusters compared to friends and neighbors with gardens!
We added a hoop cover made from 3/4" plastic electrical conduit slipped over 2' long rebar driven into the soil and window screen. This keeps rabbits, rodents, slugs & hail/hard rain from doing damage. We also added a 1/4" sprinkle irrigation system above it:
Same Mel's mix in pots:
