Learning how to plant your garden with seed catalogs and seed packets, coming up next on Year-Round Gardening.

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The avalanche of seed catalogs is well underway, and for the gardener, this might be the most wonderful time of the year, as you sit back and plan to create your dream garden.

For the beginning gardener, however, choosing plants to start from seeds might sound a little daunting, but it's also a great opportunity to learn some essentials that are key to a successful season.

Seed catalogs.

A good seed catalog is like a mini textbook, where you can find out if you have the right plant for the right place.

Reputable companies will provide a detailed description of a plant and its requirements, and these can be a good place to begin our research.

When reading catalog descriptions, consider the growing conditions in the planting area.

Does the plant need full sun, part shade, or shade?

Does it like moist soil or dry?

How large will it get?

We want our plants to thrive, not just survive.

And we'll enjoy more success with less work if we let the plant's preferences be our guide.

Choosing seeds.

Choosing the seeds of easy-to-grow vegetables and flowers is a good plan for the beginner.

Leafy greens like lettuce, spinach, or kale, along with radishes, peas, green beans, or cucumbers, all make good choices for first-time gardeners.

Easy annual flowers include zinnias, cosmos, sunflowers, and nasturtiums.

Many catalogs list the botanical Latin name as well as the common name.

This can be helpful, as several different species may be popularly known by the same common name.

That could make it confusing.

For instance, the common name daisy could be referring to the popular perennial with white flowers, the Shasta daisy, or Leucanthemum; the showy summer annual with brightly colored flowers, African daisies, Osteospermum; or maybe another plant with a similar flower shape, like ice plants, Delosperma.

But the botanical name is unique and specific to that flower and will help avoid confusion so that we're getting what we intend.

Disease-resistant seeds.

Some selections are noted as being disease-resistant.

These are plants that have been proven or bred to be resistant to a variety of common diseases, and this can be especially important information for vegetable gardeners.

Many catalogs will also list the particular diseases or pests to which the variety is resistant.

It's a good idea to learn a little about common pests and diseases of whatever you're growing.

Forewarned is forearmed.

If you have an idea of what to look out for, you're more likely to catch problems early, when they're much easier to manage.

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