If you're like many home vegetable gardeners, cold winter days can leave you longing for the taste of fresh, homegrown vegetables grown the previous summer.

What most people don't know is that a number of vegetables can be grown successfully indoors during the winter months.

While you may not be able to grow larger vegetables such as beans, corn, cucumbers, squash, or pumpkins, smaller vegetables such as cherry or patio tomatoes, green peppers, miniature eggplant and especially salad greens will perform quite well and provide a sizable harvest if taken care of correctly.

The key to any indoor winter vegetables garden is location and lighting. Place your vegetables in a southern facing window that gets at least 8-12 hours of sunlight per day.

If that is not possible, you will need to hang a grow light 6-9 inches above each plant and monitor the space between the plant and the light, moving the light up as your plants grow taller.

If relying on natural window light, make sure to also rotate your containers at least once per week in order to help your plants grow evenly.

Start your plants in seed trays and then transplant them to window boxes or other larger containers once the plants become rooted. Use a good quality potting soil, such as Miracle Gro Potting Mix, and make sure the containers you use have drainage holes. If you use water trays under your pots, make sure to check them after watering and drain any standing water in them.

Maintain a room temperature between 55 and 70 degrees. Feed with a water soluble plant food every 2 weeks, so that your plants will get the nutrients they need to produce. Wait to water until the soil surface becomes dry. Overwatering kills more plants than underwatering.

Most vegetables are pollinated by wind, so the use of a small fan will help move the pollen around from branch to branch and also help your plants survive the stuffy air conditions that can occur indoors in winter. If no pollination takes place, use a tiny paint brush (a watercolor brush works well) and dust the individual flowers weekly until they set fruit.

Autumn is a good time to prepare your lawn for the year ahead, and the best time to tackle any long-term improvements. Tasks such as raking out lawn debris, eradicating moss, feeding, and aerating will improve the quality of your lawn greatly if carried out on a yearly basis.

Under some conditions, grass clippings and debris can form a thick "thatch" on the surface of your lawn. This affects growth of the grass and should be removed with a lawn rake. Raking also removes moss.

If grass growth is poor, aerate the lawn. You can do this by pushing the prongs of a fork about 15 cm (6 in) into the ground. Brush a soil improver into the holes made by the fork. Use sand or a mixture of fine soil and sand if the ground is poorly drained. Alternatively, use peat, a peat-substitute or very fine, well-rotted compost if the ground is sandy. Reseed as necessary; fall is an excellent time for reseeding.

If your lawn is in poor condition and needs reviving, apply an autumn lawn feed. It is essential that you use one formulated for autumn use, as spring and summer feeds will contain too much nitrogen. If the grass contains a lot of moss, apply a moss killer. Use one recommended for autumn use; the mixture known as lawn sand, sometimes used to kill moss, contains too much nitrogen.

You can (and should) tidy an uneven edge whenever it's necessary, but doing a full job of it in autumn will relieve the pressure at busier times of the year. Hold a half-moon edger against a board held in position with your feet.

Perhaps one of nature's greatest miracles is the flower bulb. It goes into the ground as a crusty brown bulb, and over the course of four to five months bursts through the soil and becomes a beautiful blooming flower. And who doesn't love to see daffodils or tulips and other flower bulbs in their full-blooming glory? For many of us, it's the first sign that spring has truly arrived.

Tulips, crocus and daffodils are the traditional standby bulbs. But for those who like the unusual, there are many spectacular varieties to choose from. They can be layered in containers or in your flower bed so that the colors just keep popping up. It's best to consider how many layers (or rows) you want to plant and work, from low bulbs in the front of your planting bed (or outside edge of container) and then gradually increase the height towards the back of the bed (or inside of the container).

Three bulbs need to be chilled for 4-6 weeks prior to planting in order to replicate their natural native growing environment: crocus, hyacinth and tulips. Simply place them in a paper bag in the back of your refrigerator and do not remove until your holes are dug and you are ready to plant. Drop them into their holes and cover them immediately.

Two spring-blooming bulbs that perform better on their own are bearded iris and amaryllis bulbs. Bearded iris re-produce themselves and spread out over time, so give them lots of room. The giant Dutch amaryllis perform better forced indoors in containers where their beauty can be enjoyed without venturing outside.

Lilies, narcissus and hyacinths need to be planted in the fall as well. Don't forget that hyacinths and Oriental lilies are fragrant. Plant them where your nose as well as your eyes can appreciate their beauty.

And last, fall is the prime time to plant garlic bulbs, onion sets and seed potatoes. Plan ahead so you can enjoy a delicious summer harvest by planting these bulbs in the ground by the end of November.

So don't be disappointed when your neighbors have beautiful flower bulbs popping up in their gardens next spring and you have bare ground. Plan and plant ahead! Choose your bulbs now and plant in the fall to see the beauty of their blooms in spring.

Paperwhite narcissus are one of the most fragrant and easiest bulbs to grow. The heavily scented, spring blooming, white trumpeted flowers can be grown both outdoors in the garden or forced in containers where their wonderful sweet scent can fill a room.

Paperwhites can be planted outdoors in the fall. They prefer a sunny location but will tolerate some partial shade if that is all you have. Simply dig up the area you wish to plant in, scatter some bone meal or bulb food down and set your bulbs in place. (Make sure there's at least an inch of soil separating the bulb food from the base of the bulb.) Then cover them up, water them in and wait for them to come up in early spring. Don't forget that they look their best when planted in bunches.

The most popular way to grow paperwhites is to force them to bloom indoors during the winter. Simply fill a shallow bowl or container halfway with decorative stones or gravel. Place the paperwhite bulbs onto the stones, pushing them down just far enough so the bulbs are supported in an upright position. You can place the bulbs fairly close together; they don't mind being crowded.

Add water just to the bottom of the bulbs. If the water covers too much of the bulb, they can rot. Now put them in a cool, dark place for one to two weeks. When the bulbs begin to root and the plant has started to grow from the bulb, move your container out into a brightly lit room. Four to six weeks later, your paperwhites should be ready to bloom!

No doubt you're seeing these riotous shrubs and small trees in bloom right now! Sunny and hot will continue to be the forecast over the next couple months.

Some plants (and people!) grow weary and stressed when high temperatures persist day after day. Crape myrtles, on the other hand, thrive under these conditions, making them valuable flowering shrubs or small trees in the landscape. Whether trained as standard or multi-trunk trees, Crape myrtles make beautiful specimen or accent plants. Showy crinkled flowers are abundant throughout summer, with colors ranging from the reds to pinks, purples, and white. These gorgeous shrubs are wonderful in any sunny spot where summer color is needed.

For desired size and shape, prune in early spring. Don't worry too much about your pruning skills, as crape myrtles bloom on new wood. However, it is important to deadhead as blossoms fade in order to encourage continuous bloom. Crape myrtles are long-lived, drought tolerant and relatively pest free, although sometimes aphids and powdery mildew can be a problem. The handsome bark and fall leaf color just add to an already stunning plant!

Enjoy the show!