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perenials are the way to go. They last several years before re-planting. Hostas provide fantastic low cover and spread out very quickly. Very low maintenance

I would go to a home depot or some other such store where they sell a lot of plants. Take note of how much sun different areas of your yard get. Each plant at the store will have a modest stake in it that says what type of situation it likes — full sun, partial sun, lots of fill up, etc. I tend to buy plants that say they are hardy, I have better luck with them. Excellent luck

always wear glove, i learned this the hard way my first time gardening last summer. i grapped a weed that had spikes and had an allergic reaction where my hand went numb, and i also establish out the house i stirred to last summer has fire ants, and they attacted my hand and arms. this all happened my first two weeks of gardening. so please WEAR GLOVES!

If you are interested in more than just a vegeteble garden, try http://www.useful-information-in-oz.com. They have fantastic information.

Do I ever have some suggestions for you. I do landscape design, amoung other equipment and always delight in sharing information.

The very first thing you want to do is buy a 2 cubic foot bag of soil conditioner from Home Depot or a excellent plant sales outlet. It will cost you 6 – 8 dollars and condition a excellent size garden. Spread the soil conditioner evenly over the surface of the ground. If there is less than 2 inches of compost after spreading, You’ll need a second bag.

No one can tell you what plants you can grow without meaningful your sun exposure.

The main catagories of plants are

Annuals (they grow this year and don’t come back next year. But, your colder climate means some plants which are annuals there, In our radiator climate, become)

Perenials (Perenials are plants that bear foilage year round, Evergreen, if you will. They may bloom at any point throughout the growing season depending on the plant. There is a second type of Perenial called)

Deciduous (Deciduous plants are those Perenials that go into a sort of hibernation for the chill and reapear when the climate warms. Many trees are deciduous. They loose their leaves in the fall and regrow them in the spring)

Conofers (Conifers are the evergreen trees and plants that have needle or needle like leaves such as pine trees)

Succulants (Cactus’ are a major member of this catagory. These plants store fill up for use during dry times).

Bulbs and tuberous (These plants have storage space underground for hard times)

So, back to the garden. A mixture of the different types of plants is usually the best solution for a garden. Lets say your garden gets some sun but it is Morning or Late Afternoon sun which lasts 4 hours or less. You must select plants that are labled Part or Partial Sun. In this type of exposure, azaleas are a excellent scale for the background or random spot planting. They will bloom their modest hearts out for you each spring and remain green the year round. You might want to plant some Iris and or Holland bulbs (tulips etc…) for a dramatic effect in late Chill to Spring depending on your selection. These are Desiduous and will return eack year. Taller bulb plants are excellent planted 4 to 6 inches apart in groups of three, five or seven bulbs. The shorter bulb plants can be used as above or planted in a row as a border.

Monkey grass, Liriope, is a fantastic border Perinial that enjoys partial shade. In fact there are a lot of grasses that work well in a Part sun garden.

I would reserve no more than 1/3 of your garden for annuals. This is the only way you can preserve a “refined” looking garden throughout the year. You would want plants that are labled, Part sun or Part shade. Just go to your garden center once a month and pick up what is blooming. Replace the plants that are spent with the new bloomers within this 1/3 alloted area.

If a plant calls for full sun, it means about 5 hours of sun per day. Due to the length of this answer, I want to question you to contact me owing to my profile and I will add full sun suggestions to this answer.