-- Plan to organize your seeds to create a planting schedule.

-- When the soil can be worked, plant sweet alyssum, poppies and larkspur. It's best to sprinkle and water them in.

-- Plan to look at new catalogs for spring and fall selections.

-- Check out stored bulbs such as dahlias, tuberous begonias and caladiums. Discard diseased tubers.

-- Experiment with a new type of gardening, such as "square-foot" and "vertical."

-- Continue harvesting cold weather crops growing in a cold frame, under fabric cover or in a plastic tunnel.

-- Begin seedlings indoors.

-- Take care of houseplants, prune, fertilize and water as needed. Propagate by air-layering.

-- Do not fertilize cool season lawns this month. If mowing is required, remove no more than one third of the grass height.

-- Handpull winter annuals such as chickweed and henbit.

-- Make sure to feed and offer water to the birds.

-- Plan for perennials in beds or borders and think about ground covers to cover large spacious areas such as day lilies, hellebores and wild gingers.