Basically landscape by my self?

There is plastic material in my back yard. It has not kept the weeds out, there is very little gr and a lot of weeds anyways. If I removed the plastic and take out all the sand and stuff and whatever, I just lay down some pebbles and plant where I want. does this sound reasonable. If I sorta dig deep enough will that avoid getting up any more weeds. I don't know what the former owners were thinking.. and there was garbage (plastic peices, cat litter, dirt, dirty fake flowers, random peces of cement, lots of plastic..) in yard strewn all over.