Please help?!?!

Hello everyone,

I have recently moved into my own house and I now have a garden that I need to tend to. I am definitely not green-fingered; I have killed several pot plants that I have had to take round to my mum's for her to resuscitate. My new garden is a reasonable size so I find it a little bit daunting.

I'm just wondering if anyone can give me a bit of advice on where to begin? At the moment all I have is lawn so it's a blank canvas really. I love English country gardens that are a bit wild and messy and very colourful. Can anyone give me some advice on what flowers to plant and when I should do it? And how for that matter! I'm intending on getting some books but it'd be nice to just get a few pointers.

Thanks a lot, H x