I buy seed packets all the time. I store them in the refrigerator to help them last longer. Seeds can last a long time if you take good care of them.

I wouldn't worry about having too many of the same plant growing in one spot. When you sow directly in the ground you don't always end up with a crowd of plants. Something always seems to go wrong between sprouting and blooming.

There are only a few plants that I can think of that enjoy being planted in the middle of winter.

Only a few types of tulips are reliable perennials around here. In order to get good blooming each year, tulips need specific temps and water throughout the growing season (spring) and the dormant season (winter). North Carolina is not the environment they were designed to thrive in. Some people do have them come back strong each and every year but most don't. Our summers are too hot.

Thanks John. I bought a NC gardening book and it talks about alot of the problems with the tulips. Ever since I moved to the coast I have had the hardest time keeping stuff alive. It is so frustrating. But I am hoping because I am really getting into it this year I am going to actually keep my plants alive.

If you live on the coast then you have a whole new set of problems - but you have milder weather. Just remember that the 'salty air' travels a lot further inland than you can sense, but your garden can and plenty of plants don't like salt.

Sandy soil is actually a good thing. You just have to replenish the organic matter constantly so set up a compost bin and buy bags of the good stuff or have someone dump a truck load of it towards the back of the yard and you'll be good to go. I have sandy soil here on the south side of Raleigh and I swear you can hear it munch down on the compost when I apply it - it is monster that is never full. I have a massive compost bin and I cannot produce enough of it, I have to have it hauled in by the truckload each spring. Just remember that a car-sized pile of debris breaks down into a mass that will fit inside a 5 gallon bucket. You can work hard on your compost and have it ready in a matter of weeks or you can just let it set and have it ready in a year.

Tulips have a defined lifespan. They only last a certain number of years even in the wild. When you buy them from a catalog or from a store they are usually at their peak - meaning that the following spring will be their biggest bloom and they normally go downhill after that. They are a bulb that works best if you buy a few each year and plant them in the fall and enjoy them in the spring and don't fret too much if they don't come back the following year. All that being said there are people that have permanent beds of tulips that multiply and come back and bloom strong and have for many many years - those are the lucky people, most tulips don't do that. The smaller species tulips are better suited for return visits. Also remember that lots of wildlife like to eat tulips and squirrels are masters at digging up the bulbs to eat them. Lay chicken wire across the ground or cover the surface with a thin layer of rocks/gravel to deter them.

If you have a problem getting plants to grow in your new location, have your soil tested to see if you need to add anything. We were having a problem getting vegetables and roses to grow. After we had the soil tested, we found that our soil was very acidic. So instead of planting more seed or adding fertilizer, we know we have to apply lime. This is much faster and cheaper than using trial and error.

Here is a link that might be useful: North Carolina Agronomic Services Soil Test Forms & Information

I don't even live on the beach, I live about 10-15 miles from it, and my back yard is nothing but sand. You have to dig down two feet to get dirt. Last year we were put on water restriction because of the drought, then it rained for about a month, so all of my drought tollerant plants died bc they got over watered, and all the rain caused a fungus or something that took out half my flower bed in my front yard. My husband thought a few of my shrubs were weeds bc the peat moss made the grass grow like crazy around them. But this is my second year in my home, and each year I have usually one plant that makes it, so I will get there one way or another.

Last year we tried to do a compost ourselves, did not work out too well. Growing up, my dad had organic stuff dumped and used that so I had no expierence with starting a compost. My husband is from up north and insisted on a worm compost said that was the best way to go. I don't know if it got too hot here last summer or if the box he made had too big of air gaps and bugs came in and ate my worms, but it didn't work at all. We don't have a lot of land, probably about a little over a quarter acre, I would love to do an organic compost if there was a better way to do one that wouldn't attract anamials to my home. I know could do one with leaves, but we don't really have that here, we have pine needles though.

I am not very good about working in the compost probably like I need to be. I do it in the spring and fall. How often should I be doing this? I only work it into the the to the top 6 inches, is that what I should be doing?

Now, I am from Chapel Hill and I know we used to dig up worms to put in our flower beds to help with the drainage. The only worms I have seen since I have moved here were in pet stores. With the soil being so sandy here, is that something I even need to worry about?

I did a home soil test last year, I don't know how to send off my soil, I don't know if it would really tell me too much more than what the home test told me. I also have one of those thingies that you stick in the ground that reads the ph levels.

This is my first year planting bulbs and I quickly realized that my lab likes to eat bulbs. I have no clue why or how he knew they were there, so in the back yard I did lay down wiring. I will do it in the front yard as well, thank you.

There is always going to be weird weather years, where nothing you do seems to work. If you concentrate on building up the soil in the garden beds you'll be ahead of the game.

If you can track down a county extension agent or an experienced gardener from your area they might be able to just look at your weeds and tell you what kind of soil you have. Certain weeds prefer certain soils. The simple ph meters like you describe are not completely accurate but they do give you a basic reading on your soil. If you have a lot of pines and pine needles on the ground then you sound like a high acid area to me (but I'm no expert). Adding lime is the easy way around that. You can buy a bag of it at a farm store or large garden center. If you sprinkle it on the soil surface it takes about a year for it to penetrate one inch, so you might want to sprinkle it and then work it down into the soil. With compost, all you have to do is work it in deep the first time and then just add it to the surface from then on.

More than likely your worm bin composter had problems staying cool and damp. All the bugs getting into it is natural - compost bins are always full of bugs. Some people just bury kitchen scraps and stuff into the ground where they plan on planting things in the future. That way it rots in place where they need it. If you have animals around they will probably dig it all up - so be careful.

My advice would be to start very small with just a simple garden area and then grow it bigger each year.

You can build up mounds of rich soil on top of your sandy soil. It is an easy way to quickly get a garden. Earthworms will eventually find the spot and work the top soil down into the sand below, but it takes time. Plenty of gardeners that battle clay soil do this. It is much simpler than digging out large amounts of clay and replacing it with topsoil. Most garden veggies only need about a foot of soil anyway, so you can build up mounds of good soil a foot deep.