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A Gardener's Notebook: The latest incarnation of my column detailing the trails and tribulations of my garden. Join the list and ask your own questions about gardening Subscribe

The seed catalogs are coming! The seed catalogs are coming!

I have heard about these catalogs in the past, but I have been spared their tawdry come-ons. Until 3 years ago my gardening consisted of a few sickly house plants in my apartment. Whether it is due to my haunting of local nurseries and home stores or the writing of this column, the catalogs have found me. I innocently began flipping through the Burpee Annual catalog I received and was immediately taken in by the bright color photographs and glowing descriptions. Before long I had so many items circled that they would have to reserve an entire flatbed trailer just to ship my order. I have seen the dark side of gardening and it looks like a picture perfect Enchinacea (Purple Coneflower). Stop me, I have no will power!

With all seriousness, I now understand how those of you in colder climates get through the winter. You use your catalogs to dream of how your garden will look once you find the time and money to plant everything you have marked in the catalogs. Of course, I have the benefit of being able to receive my plants immediately instead of having to wait until the ground thaws.

Normally, this would be the time for planting both seeds and transplants here in Southern California, but in this world of extremes it looks like this year will swing to the drought side of the pendulum. I was sort of expecting this after seeing the drought conditions that effected the rest of the country throughout the Summer and Fall. The jet stream, that fickle wind that drives large, comma-shaped, Winter storms across California seems to have found a girlfriend in Portland. The Northwest is wetter than normal while La Niña conditions leave us looking skyward whenever a cloud crosses the sun. Despite our best intentions and prayers we might end up watering our gardens for the next 12 months. This was the case when we first moved into our house almost 4 years ago and I certainly don't look forward to it. I have seen how well my garden grows when the rains come as usual and how stunted everything gets when it has to depend on my benign neglect alone.

Lack of our usual storms makes establishing plants much more difficult. Out here, once you start watering you dare not stop. Miss a few days and you will find nothing but a dried-up sprig where your $5, $10 or $15 transplant used to be. You also have to make sure to water deeply. When you water frequently in small amounts the roots of plants never establish themselves deeply in the soil. This makes them susceptible to droughts in the future.

Just in case we get our Winter rains here, I would be interested in hearing your comments about purchasing seeds and transplants via mail order catalog or online sources. You can share your comments with all the AGN readers by sending them to the AGN mailing list. If you are not already a subscriber, visit the AGN web site to subscribe.

Enjoy your winter garden catalog dreams. I hope your garden looks 100 times more beautiful this Spring.