Well, I think you already have a good idea of my general opinion about popular garden magazines from other postings. Most modern seed catalogs (there are still some good ones) with their penchant for mindless marketing serve best to ignite logs in a fireplace.

I quibble with your statement "Gardening is a physical activity..." Sadly, this is all too often the truth. It is just that GOOD gardening requires and deserves more mental input than sweaty armpits can provide.

I fear I am too "Americanized" to truly appreciate Zen. It puzzles me as to why I should want to cease all other endeavors just to utilize by brain. As my dad used to tell me out on the farm, "Yeah ... Well, you can think about that while you are cleaning out the hog barn. Now, GET GOING!!!"

... and so it goes.

IronBelly

As usual , us Californians are ahead of the next seasonal trend and are already marketing wheat grass to grow for the bored winter time / any time gardener.
Wheat grass has been all the rage here for a couple of years at the supermarkets that have juice bars and other haute cafe scenes.
One can purchase a square of wheat grass and a package of scissors at just about any market or nursery.
Take your instant garden home and shear away to your hearts content.
Place your compact lawn in a box next to your mimiature Zen sand and rock garden and you have a regular estate garden happeing right on the top of your coffee table.

I'm not a cold climate gardener anymore but my Northern Californian rainy cool winter weather does not exactly beckon one out into the chilly garden when its pouring out.
( Although I did pot up several pots of succulents and collected Ricinus seed for an hour or so this morning before the rain started up )

During the wet weather I do day dream , sketch, plan and research new and unusual plants and planting combinations for the upcoming garden season .
I also spend a fair amount of time doing major overhauls to my garden tools and outdoor garden furniture.
Lots of time is spent in the garage with files, sand paper and teak oil.

I also take this time to clean up in and around the potting area and greenhouse.

I appreciate this slower time which enables me to catch up on all the other garden related chores that I neglect during the active growing seasons.

You see, now we are talking four season gardening. I am going to lick this into shape, anyone want to join me (this might be a poor choice of words considering IB's notes elsewhere.) Somehow or other I want to tie it in with the assistance I am giving a young man on the pro forum with his invention, he wants to link a tooth brush holder with a plant pot as a metaphor a literary endeavour for sure.
Armchair gardening can be so much more fun than just reading seed catalogues.

No one mentioned conferences/workshops or just networking with other gardeners to discuss common problems, solutions, thoughts.

Some of us don't mind getting a bit wet as we garden during the inclement season. Around here, gardeners can stay busy the year round -- except for the two or three days in winter when the ground might be frozen -- and we not only plan and plot, but we're actually out there snipping, pruning, tying back, uprooting, and planting. (Right now, I'm setting out large patches of moss to replace the final, ailing patches of moribund lawn.)

This is also the best time for pursuing my least favorite garden chore: weeding. At least I can see the darn things at this time of the year, because they're not hiding under hostas, ferns, and hydrangeas.

On warm days, I'll be wandering through the garden with a glass of wine, sipping, while admiring the flowers (camellias, hellebores, primroses, winter cherry, jasmine, and deliciously-scented viburnum), while listening to the song of birds. (My garden is a refuge for many varieties of little birds.)

I love having a garden for all seasons.

(Even on the few days when the weather is too miserable to go outside, I stay in touch with my garden, because my desk overlooks the pond, and I can watch the antics of the birds as I whip my notes into shape and hone my stories.)

Well, when Jack Frost nibbles at one's nose....aside from giving him a good kick in the #&^$8@, there's this revolutionary gardening trend.

Or for the even more daring, this one.

I am into the latter activity, which requires limited hard physical labor and leaves plenty of time for hot cocoa and fireside seed catalog perusal.

Ironbelly, what exactly constitutes good gardening?
Is the neighbor with her perfectly edged beds, summer long hodgepoge of blooms, and daily putterings not a good gardener.
Am I with my wildflowers, native shrubs, high insect activity and and no sprays not a good gardener.
Is the 'man' down the street with his soft silken green lawn, meticulously trimmed shrubs, and puffed chest not a good gardener.
What about the artist gardener using color like paint and filling more space with objects that plantlife.
Isn't gardening like beauty in the eye of the beholder.
Armchair gardening is what writer's do. The rest of us read and look at the pretty pictures...

Martha did the grass with bulbs a loooong time ago. In cute little antique wood cheese boxes if I remember correctly

Sooooo?

Martha who??

Martha Thinkaboutitbeforeyoupost, who else.

Never heard of her. Does she write?

Actually, I think Martha hires ghost writers and if you ask me I think some of her garden material is outdated and inaccurate, witness recommending play sand for a soil amendment - It should be a coarser grade. On one of these forums someone signed off as Martha Stewart (even though the "posted by" address above didn't agree, several believed it . Those are the ones spam is effective for.