Earlier this month I read Seth Godin's When newspapers are gone, what will you miss? post. In it he questioned what we would actually lose when, not if, newspapers go out of business.

It reminded me of a discussion that I have constantly with a colleague centering around the "paperless office". My peer argues vehemently for the continuation of the norm and the ever-increasing use of paper. In his future paper will become cheaper, printers more compact and mobile and recycling of paper waste more economical.

In my future, I see less paper, no printers and no wastage.

I have a printer here in my home office but I honestly can't remember the last time I used it. The dust is settling on the cartridges now and I'm concerned that they may not work anymore - well, not that concerned! For my reality has very little to do with printing paper.

Which made me ponder the question, "How will gardening magazines fair in a world that is becoming more reliant on electronic media?" And then, lo and behold, Amazon send me an email informing me that their magazine subscriptions have been reduced substantially.

In past years a 10-15% discount was enormous and worth hanging out for but now they're offering 75%. What's with that? And especially as the northern hemisphere's gardening season is almost upon us! Could our gardening magazines be heading in the same direction as our national newspapers?

And, if they did, would you miss them? Where would you source your gardening ideas, inspiration, know-how and anecdotes from if our beloved magazines disappeared from the shelves altogether?