Hey man if its for your pesonal consume i would love to help you!
1 i would go for the closet, you can control the temperature much more
2 if its your first time i would say go for soil, i belive hidroponycs is a lit more difficult
3 www.seedsdirect.to www.buydutchseeds.com www.highgrade-seeds.com andthere are some others you can check around the forums, in seeds and strains, also youll recive more posts with different companies, dont be cheap with your seed expenses, but also dont get riped off... if you know what i mean.. just dont get anything from www.nirvana-shop.com i had a terrible experience with them