A few of the many garden catalogs available

Even in the milder climates the late autumn and winter months can still offer weather that makes staying indoors preferable to working outside in the garden. Rains can leave garden soil moist for several days after a downpour and it is wisest to avoid compressing the soil by walking on it when it is wet and muddy. In other areas frosts and snow can freeze soil hard or simply make outdoor work unpleasant. Whether it’s the weather, the short daylight hours or it’s any other reason you choose to stay indoors, you can still have fun gardening. This is the time of year when all sorts of gardening catalogs arrive in the mail. If you are not receiving all the catalogs you’d like, take a visit to online growing sites to pass the time or to order a printed version delivered to your house. It may be old-fashioned, but there aren’t many things more relaxing to an enthusiastic gardener than curling up in front of a toasty fireplace with a pile of the latest catalogs stacked up next to a hot cup of coffee, cocoa or tea as the weather rains, sleets, snows or blows outside.

There are a lot of reasons to check out gardening catalogs. First of all, you can find all the things you won’t find elsewhere. Seed vendors specialize in so many different products from edibles to decoratives, herbs to trees, orchids and rarities to bulk seeds or local native plants. Catalogs offer hours of delight and opportunities to try out varieties that tickle the imagination without having to spend a lot of money. Bulbs also tend to be offered in limited supplies by retailers. Yet even the common daffodil and tulip come in remarkable shapes and colors you might enjoy exploring inside the bulb specialist catalogs. And, of course, there’s always another variety of bulb, corm or rhizome that needs to be tried.

Although some plants can be pricey when ordering through certain catalogs, you can find types and cultivars you’d be unable to find elsewhere. You can find just about any kind of plant you can imagine listed in catalogs. Look for rarities if you want a challenge, or check for catalogs that offer bulk prices if you have a large area you want to plant for the best price. You might even want to experiment with some indoor plants.

There are non-living garden supplies you can shop for in catalogs, too. Look for anything from outdoor furniture to lighting, gloves and tools to foods and pesticides, cloches to full-sized greenhouse kits, waterfalls to imaginative décor. You can plan on starting seeds indoors with your own seed set-up to get a jump on the season or raise plants that might be devoured by pests if you seed them directly into your garden. Or you can spend time making plans to redesign a part of the garden or give a face-lift to your pool or an outdoor room with new items that entice you from the catalog pages.

There are many ways to enjoy putting your catalogs to work. You can even find great bargains between the pages of catalogs. Keep an eye out for specials and close-outs. Some are available only in print catalogs whereas others may only be found online.

Originally posted 2010-11-11 11:58:18. Republished by Blog Post Promoter

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