How to scrap a garden and get a fresh start?

Start with a shovel and a large trash receptacle--or some plastic bags that will be picked up by your disposal people. It really depends on WHAT is growing in your garden, though. Most plants can be pulled up by the roots and discarded--but not all will STAY gone once you get rid of them. Unless you know what it is that's growing out there, and how it grows--i.e., does it grow by root spreading, rhizomes (underground stems) or does it drop a lot of seeds that will come up next spring--you may not be able to start "clean" just by removing the things that are there now. And you also don't know if there are bulbs in the ground--which will bloom next spring or summer. So all I can tell you for now is to get rid of whatever you see growing, and if it grows back next spring, it's going to have to be removed in a different way to get it all gone. Before you do this, I'd see about asking someone who is an experienced gardener to identify what you DO have and whether or not you would like to have it there next year. Also--this isn't the best time to do this job; the best time is after it all dies down in the late fall--before the ground freezes. It's a lot easier to get out of the ground when it dies back.

Christin is right. I tried to clear out my garden area several years ago. I pulled up all the plants. I dug down over a foot with a shovel and pulled out any roots I found. I covered the whole area two feet deep with dead leaves from my trees. Every year it just all grows back. This spring I tried planting some vegetables. Before I planted anything, I pulled out everything that had grown there, but that didn't help. The seeds I planted sprouted, but also weeds grew faster. I pulled out the weeds, and a ground-covering vine rapidly moved into the area. Every week I would pull out over 50 feet of vine (from an area that is 5 feet by 10 feet), and within a week it would grow right back.

My vegetables didn't grow to maturity. That is somewhat due to not getting enough sunshine (I have too many trees on my property, and the house blocks the sun later in the day), but having vines and weeds overgrowing everything didn't help.

I'm thinking of trying a herbicide. I think I've seen some that will prevent any plant life from growing for over 6 months, so I might have to lose a year of trying to grow anything and just chemically waste the whole area for months.

You can "fumigate" the soil of plants and bugs with products like Vapam. You'd need to cover the soil for 2 weeks while it works. Cheap tarps or plastic sheeting (it comes on rolls) can work well for that, especially black which blocks life-giving light from getting to plants.

For plants/weeds/vines, a good sod company can suggest a chem that kills off the top growth, like they do before over-sodding. You can also call a garden center like John Deere and tell them your issue. They sell good chemicals that may work well and have the ground ready by spring.