Creating a gradient in PSP is very easy and they are so fun to play with!
Start by choosing 2 colors you think you want in your gradient.
Set these two colors on your foreground and background colors of your materials palette (the two boxes on the right).     To get to the gradient editor, click on one of the color boxes on your materials palette and then click on the gradients tab at the top.     Now change your settings to Angle and Repeats 0, Style Linear.     At this point you can click on Edit Paths at the bottom and create a new folder for the gradients you create, if you wish.
This also shows you where your gradients are automatically saved.   Next, click on the Edit button underneath the gradient that is pictured.     Click on the New button and type in a name for your gradient.     Now decide how you want your colors to flow - light to dark, with a light band in the middle progressing to dark on the outside, or a varied selection of colors.   Start with the Gradient section of the Gradient Editor box and let's go over some of the tools.   Each marker you see under the bar is a band of solid color in your gradient.
To change their color, click on the marker and it will darken when it is active.
Now click on the box of color to the right of the Custom box, this brings up your color wheel and allows you to choose a color.
You may also click on the Foreground or Background buttons located above the Custom box to change the active marker to the Foreground or Background colors you selected in the beginning.     To add a marker, or band, to the gradient, just click underneath the bar where you want the marker to be added.
The color that is in the box to the right of the Custom box is the default color for the new bands that are added.
Just follow the steps mentioned above to change the colors.   Slide the markers from left to right to change the blend.
You can also move the diamonds on top of the bar that mark the midpoints, this will also change the blend.   Transparency
You can make a part or parts of the gradient transparent, following the same steps of activating a marker or adding a new one, and just use the Opacity setting to determine how transparent you want that band of transparency to be.
A setting of 100 is no transparency.   Result
You can preview your gradient in the Result box on the bottom.   When you are satisfied, click ok and you have created your very own gradient!   You can also edit an existing gradient.
Just select the gradient before you click the Edit button and then click "Save As" to save it under a new name, keeping the original the same.   The possibilities are endless!