Indoor tasks will beautify garden in the spring

Winter is a good time for garden planning. Consult your notes on seed and plant purchases, past garden successes and failures, and garden maps as you begin to plan garden improvements for the coming year.

General garden care

It is a good idea to check on the seeds you have saved and stored from last year's garden. Discard anything that is damp, diseased or moldy and then determine what you need to order for the coming year. Order plants and seeds early to ensure availability of the plant varieties that you want. Consider varieties that are pest and disease resistant to minimize future problems in the garden.

Inspect squash, potatoes, root crops, and other vegetables and fruits in winter storage. Although conditions may have been ideal when you harvested and stored them in the fall, winter weather may have made it too cold or damp. Vegetables stored in an unheated garage will likely freeze in cold winter weather and should be moved to the basement and kept as cool as possible. Throw away or compost anything that has spoiled or has soft spots. The same goes for summer flower bulbs like dahlias and gladioli that you saved to plant this spring.

Color is a common design element in the home garden. Complementary colors such as orange and blue are opposite each other on the color wheel and can create bright, vibrant effects when combined in the garden. Harmonious or analogous colors such as yellow and orange are next to each other on the color wheel and create a visually harmonious effect when used in the garden. Combinations of hot colors such as red, yellow, and orange create vivid and exciting displays in the garden. Hot colors tend to leap forward in the landscape. Cool colors in shades of blue, violet, and green can create a soothing and tranquil effect. Cool colors tend to recede and can be used to exaggerate the illusion of depth in the garden.

Continue monitoring your garden for damage from animals and install barriers as needed to prevent damage. It is easy to forget about the garden in the dead of winter but animals can continue causing damage. Repellents can be applied when temperatures are above 40 degrees.

Houseplants

During the winter, most houseplants are not in an active growth phase due to short day lengths, reduced humidity, and lower temperatures unless you are growing them in a greenhouse. Most houseplants require less water and much less, if any, fertilizer, because they slow their growth during the winter. The plant species will also determine the frequency of watering, but most will prefer watering when the medium is barely moist to the touch or almost dry. Ferns will prefer to be kept more evenly moist while succulents will prefer to dry out more between watering. Water houseplants thoroughly when you do water them. Water should freely drain out of the bottoms of the pots. If the excess water drains into a saucer, discard the water and replace the saucer beneath the pot.

Most houseplants will perform well in daytime temperatures of 65 to 75 degrees and night temperatures of 60 to 65 degrees in winter. Temperatures below 50 degrees or rapid temperature fluctuations may damage some plants. Keep houseplants away from cold drafts, radiators, and hot air vents. Also make sure houseplant foliage doesn't touch cold windows.

Houseplants with large leaves and smooth foliage, such as philodendron, dracaena, and rubber plant can benefit if their leaves are washed at intervals to remove dust and grime. Cleaning houseplants improves their appearance, stimulates growth, and may help control insects and mites. Large, firm-leafed plants may be cleaned with a soft sponge or cloth and tepid water. Another method is to spray off the leaves in the shower.

Monitor houseplants for insect problems that often occur when plants become stressed. New houseplants or gift plants can also harbor pests. Isolate these plants before adding them to your collection. Pests to look out for include the following:

• Spider mites — Look for webbing in leaf axils, stippled foliage, and weak, off-color leaves. Mites are often difficult to see without a lens.

• Scale — Characteristic sticky, clear honeydew is produced on leaves by these small, immobile, rounded insects usually found on stems and veins of leaves.

• Mealybugs — Easy to spot, these insects resemble crowds of tiny cotton puffs.

• Whitefly — Whiteflies are a major problem in many greenhouses because they can quickly move to neighboring plants. Look for tiny, white, mothlike insects often found on the undersides of leaves.

• Fungus gnats — The adult black gnats fly around the plant but do no damage. The immature larvae in the moist soil can chew plant roots. They are often a problem in overwatered plants or overly moist flats of seedlings.#8226; Tim Johnson is director of horticulture at Chicago Botanic Garden. chicagobotanic.org.