Anchorage Daily News

I am going out on the proverbial limb here. First, I am assuming many of you still haven't gotten to those leaves on the lawn. Second, I am hoping the weather holds so you can take care of them this weekend.

Even if you've already mulched your leaves, this is a fun time to lay some patterns into the lawn. The soil is slightly frozen, so driving on the lawn won't harm the fungi in the soil, and the leaves are a terrific medium: You mulch them up and form them into lines that follow the path of the mower.

Regular readers know that I believe a lawn is a canvas just waiting for an artist. Using a mower or sitting on a lawn tractor, it is possible to "paint" circles, hearts, diagonal lines, waves and so much more. You've all heard of crop circles and seen commercials with flags or liquor bottles mowed into farm fields. Here is your chance to make your yard a billboard of sorts.

Right now, for example, our front yard has a few wicked-looking crop-circle-like features thanks to the leaves from the birch trees that surround it. There are enough leaves still to fall that by the time this is published, I will be able to get out there again and play Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein or David Hockney. (I am into pop-art lawns these days).

Try it. You will like it. And if the snow doesn't stick, you can at least enjoy some art.

BULBS IN, CROPS OUT

The warm weather also means that you can still plant spring-flowering bulbs: tulips, daffodils, squills and the like. Look for them, and buy what you find. Supplies can be thin this time of year. Remember to mulch over bulbs so the soil will at first resist frost and then, once the soil does freeze, stay frozen during thaw cycles.

If you haven't harvested potatoes, it is time. And I would suggest that your brussels sprouts are as sweet as they are going to get. Harvest them too, along with carrots, radishes and beets. And remember Plant a Row for the Hungry -- take some produce to Bean's Cafe or the Alaska Food Bank.

MOVING INDOORS

It is time to keep an eye out for any pests you imported from outside, such as aphids and slugs. You can use the beer-trap method for slugs, but aphids are a lot harder to get rid of. Watering with cold water works if you have a greenhouse. Otherwise, put the plant in a shower, bathtub or kitchen sink. If you have a steady hand and are careful, a light vacuuming might work. Neem oil is a last resort.

As for your houseplants, there has always been advice to not fertilize in the winter. This is because the plant is supposedly dormant. If you use lights (and of course every reader of this column has at least one set of winter plant lights, right?) or if you are using soil food web management for your plants, this is bad advice. Feed your microbes and keep them alive. Soybean meal and any of the organic plant foods work. I sometimes mix in a bit of baby or ground oatmeal.

To ensure that they all flower, holiday cacti should be grown in natural light and experience night temperatures 10 degrees lower than daytime's, or at least be kept where night temperatures are between 45 and 55. Go easy on the watering for a month as well.

Finally, this is a great time to hunt for new houseplants. Nurseries that stay open in winter are a great source. Some of the big-box stores have plants as well. As always, isolate them for a couple of weeks before mixing them into your collection. This will allow you to see if the plant has unwanted creatures lurking in it.

Jeff Lowenfels is a member of the Garden Writers Hall of Fame. You can reach him at www.gardenerjeff.com or by joining the "Garden Party" radio show from 10 a.m. to noon Saturdays on KBYR 700 AM.

Garden calendar

• AEROGARDEN: This must-have indoor growing system is available from Bell's Nursery, Alaska Mill and Feed, and Habitat Housewares. Start now and have herbs and lettuce by Thanksgiving.

• FORCED TULIPS: The tips of tulip bulbs point in one direction. When you're forcing them, all tips should be pointing outward, toward the pot wall.