From: smt2626@hertz.njit.edu (sylvia m tou mfen stnt)
Newsgroups: rec.gardens
Subject: Starting questions
Date: 26 Jan 93 16:28:22 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, N.J.




As a beginner gardner, I am trying to start a vegatable and flower garden.

1.  To make life easier (or so I think), I am trying for a mostly
perennial flower garden with some annuals (I'll try the bulbs later).
I started buying seeds for perennials such as delphaniums and columbines.
I am rather confused though;  the seed package says to start indoor planting
6-8 weeks before the last frost and then plant them in the desired locations.
The books that I checked out of the library says to start planting them
in cold frames (or in my case indoors under flourescent lights at work)
in summer, then move out to the desired locations in fall.  From what I
can gather this second method makes them more hardy but how necessary is
it since I really don't want to wait until next year to do the planting.
Any suggestions?  Also I am open to suggestions as to what to buy
(seeds or grown plants); I am looking for hardy, easy care plants that
thrive in full to partial sun; I live in Zone 6 (close to Zone 7), in NJ.
(Worse comes to worse and this year, I'll buy annuals to plant for now.)

2.  For the vegatable garden part, I am also starting from seeds.  Do the
above apply also to vegatables or just go ahead and do what the seed
packages say to do?

3.  How does one tell a still living (though inactive) plant from
a dead plant.  The previous people who lived there had a garden and I
left it as is.  Unfortunately for the most part I don't know what 
they planted.  I figured I can safely assume the stuff that is still
green above ground will bloom again come spring/summer but what
about the dead brown stuff.  A few of the plants have the tags so I can
look them up but the others?

4.  There is one area on my yard, along the fence that the previous
people who lived there just threw stuff there (stuff as in lumber
and ladder and stair railings).  The area is acually nicely 'bordered',
i.e. you can see a defineable division between grass and nongrass.  THis
area is also riched from years of decomposing leaves and stuff.  I was
thinking of growing some hardy shrubs there.  The garden books I read
confused me in this aspect because they talk about being careful about
where you put shrubs in terms of lighting (as well as other reasons).
In this location that I was thinking of, its all shade during spring and
summer due to the trees there and alot of sun during the winter (no leaves
for shade).  The shrubs I was thinking of was the forsythia, azalea, and
hydrangea.  Any problems with this?  Any other suggestions?
(I was going to use the lumber to actually define a border and the rest dump.)

5.  I am looking for a low growing perennial that has relatively shallow
roots to use as a border (more specifically, its for decoration around a
grave marker (slab of stone) for a deceased pet.)  Any suggestions?
Again NJ - Zone 6.

So not to clutter things up, please send comments and suggestions to
sylvia@maple.njit.edu.  Thank you all.

		-- sylvia
Newsgroups: rec.gardens