WEEK 1

Joe Songer / Special (ENLARGE)

Building a birdhouse is a great wintertime activity.

Walter Reeves / Special (ENLARGE)

Cut pampas grass at the stem to control growth.

Joe Mctyre / Staff (ENLARGE)

Prune blackberry and raspberry vines so fruit is off the ground this summer.

Female ginkgo seeds can have rancid odor  Beautyberry safe to plant anywhere  Fern shares Boston name, but not the cold  Trim odd growth; weed killer likely cause  Wick waterer keeps plants hydrated

Nothing attracts fish like a big catawba caterpillar. To raise your own fish bait, plant catawba tree seeds now after removing them from the pod.

Occasional warm weekend weather means this is a great time to do all shrub pruning. Details at xrl.us/SHRUBPRUNE

Control wild onions in your lawn. Spray with broad leaf weed killer or imazaquin (Image for Nutgrass). Another option is to use a dandelion fork to dig up the hidden bulblets.

Building a birdhouse is a great wintertime activity. I've put together a big list of tips for attracting and identifying birds at xrl.us/ATTRACTBIRDS.

WEEK 2

Burning pampas grass (or any other grass, including a bermuda grass lawn) is a terrible idea. Use a handsaw to cut the brown stems of ornamental grasses 6 to 12 inches from the ground.

Continue spot-spraying or digging out broadleaf weeds in your lawn. The best weed control is vigorously growing grass, so fertilize fescue lawns now and again in April.

Crape myrtles do not demand pruning to have big blooms, but some folks like to keep theirs at a height proportional to their landscape. Learn how to prune correctly at xrl.us/PRUNECRAPE

Repot vigorous African violets every year at least. Remove a half-inch of soil from the bottom of the root ball, put the root ball back in the pot and add soil around the stem beneath the lowest leaves.

WEEK 3

Plant onion sets in your garden. Good varieties include "Walla Walla," "Yellow Globe Danvers," "Grano," "Granex" and "Juno."

Finish pruning apples and pears by the end of this month. Remove dead limbs first, then those that cross through the middle. Lastly, cut out thin, vertical water sprouts.

Easter red cedar is a great substitute for disease-prone Leyland cypress. Columnar forms include "Emerald Sentinel" and "Skyrocket." "Grey Owl" is bushy and rounded.

Pull chickweed from flower beds. Tiny, white, star-shaped flowers identify this fast-spreading pest.

WEEK 4

Fertilize pecan trees. Apply one pound of 10-10-10 per inch of trunk thickness. Scatter under the tree. Repeat in May and September.

Mushrooms in the lawn are common after a few days of warm sun. They do no harm to grass. Simply remove and discard them.

Do not prune red tip photinia in February. The resulting flush of red leaves is very prone to disease. Wait until June instead.

Prune raspberry and blackberry vines. Remove all brown canes. Tie the resulting green stems to their arbor so fruit is held off the ground this summer.