Very basic question about merging plots.

Apologies for these questions being so basic, but we all have to start somewhere

I just decided I'd try owning a small area of land, and bought two 512sq m plots next to each other.

I'm considering merging them into 1 plot and I have 3 basic questions:

1: Am I right in thinking I just go onto the ground in the "Edit Terrain" mode drag the yellow box around both parcels and choose join land? (Is there any easier way to select the plots?)

2: After the merge, it will still belong to me with my settings intact will it?

3: One of these two plots it totally empty.The other I have already put some items on.
Will merging the plots affect the items already on on of the plots (will they be deleted/returned to me) or will merging have no effect on anything already existing on a plot?

Thanks.

Welcome to SL.
To join plots you need to only drag select a square from one parcel to the the other parcels so the selected contains land from each parcel then join will join all of both.
Some settings will remain the same and some may return to default. Which parcel gets pirority in selecting settings is a bit of a random mystery.
Usually no problems joining parcels unless you have autoreturn set on one plot and there are non owner or non-group prims on the land, but in my experience auto return seems to return to default setting of off when parcels are joined.

Thanks for the quick reply.

I've been in SL a few weeks now and am learning more "technical" each day (whilst my friend just buys dresses and goes out dancing) LOL

Ok, so given this scenario:

One 512sq plot with a house on (in the air) and a touching plot that's totally empty.

Which would be the safest option (order in which to do things) to avoid loosing the home that's in one of the parcels?

Thanks.