I know how to do it but for some reason the stuff i pick up does not have any effects, it just says "Unavailable" and if i mix some together i get "unknown" potion. so am i missing something? My alchemy is level 15. any tips on starting off maybe?

Eat the ingredients to discover their properties.

You have to have ingredients that share common effects. Take damage health for example. Skeever tail and death bell both have damage health effects. If you put those two together you are more likely to make a successful potion. You also have to use the ingredients in a successful potion, or eat them to learn their effects.

I'm so glad the game says this lol. thanks for the help

I guess you just have to play enough to figure it out. Some merchants to sell recipes. That would give you a small indication of what ingredients to put together to get a desired effect.

I think there is actually an on line help for the skills, including alchemy.

BTW I think Alchemy is a lot of fun, particularly in this game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=509spopity0 is a mildly NSFW instruction from the Egoraptor on how alchemy works.

The game does tell you how to do this. In two of the first towns you're likely to travel to after the intro sequence, Riverwood and Falkreath, the patron of the town alchemist/tavern with the alchemy lab is set up to do an alchemy tutorial if you work through their dialogue.

once you get 50 alchemy you have a perk of 3/3 to grab and can learn the effects by eating all ingrideints. OR if you don't want to waist perk points http://uesp.net/wiki/Skyrim:Alchemy_Effects

Not to mention the very first time you open an alchemy lab it gives you a tool tip telling you how to do it as well.

To the OP though: If you want to learn the effects on your own without using the information on the internet it is tedious, but rewarding. I discovered all the effects on my own on my first character for fun, and it was rewarding to get a successful potion after multiple attempts.

When you have two ingredients with the same effect, they are automatically sorted when you approach the Alchemy Lab.
By eating you can discover only the first effect. The rest you'll find out by mixing random potions - when it says "unknown effect", mix it anyway. Sometimes the creation will fail, sometimes you will get a potion and new properties will be added to the list of ingredients.
Alchemy is all about trial and error (unless you use internet guides, but they really spoil the fun )

Oh, and the perk allowing to dicover two effects instead of one when you eat is not worth taking. It reveals only the FIRST two effects, of which you already know one, and by the time you reach 50 in alchemy you'll probably know most of the second effects too.