DO IT NOW

If you still have bags of bulbs sitting around, get to it and plant those bulbs now. Although it's possible to plant many bulbs right up until the ground freezes, your bulbs will do better -- and you'll enjoy planting more -- if you do it before it gets colder. Water well after planting (there's no need to feed) and mulch the bulb bed once it gets really, really cold. Which could be next week.

NEXT WEEK

A garden's beauty is always ephemeral. But when Jim Smith's flowers and foliage fade for the winter this year, it'll be for the last time. Next spring, the EPA will dig up his lush Minneapolis landscape and replace his arsenic-laden soil. He's relieved to be losing an environmental hazard, but sorry to say goodbye to the garden he loves - and painstakingly planted from scratch.

HOT TICKET

• The annual "Great Finds" Designer Home Sample Sale, sponsored by the American Society of Interior Designers, is set to begin Thursday and runs through Saturday at International Market Square. There will be discounts of 50 to 80 percent on furnishings and accessories, and special "couture room" with one-of-a-kind pieces, "flea market" items and a rug bazaar. 4-8 p.m. Thu., 9 a.m.- 6 p.m. Fri., 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Sat., IMS, 275 Market St., Mpls, www.facebook.com/greatfinds.

• Looking for inspiration for holiday entertaining? Here are two places to go for help this weekend: The Affair, which evolved out of the Chocolate Extravaganza, brings together Twin Cities experts on food, wines, cheeses, chocolates, table settings and much more. Members of the Star Tribune's Taste and Home & Garden staffs will be on hand both days at the Star Tribune Taste Stage. At 10:45 a.m., Taste editor Lee Svitak Dean talks about easy entertaining; 11:45 a.m., Kim Ode demos holiday cookies; at 12:45 p.m., wine columnist Bill Ward shares how to pair food with the right wine; and at 4:45 p.m., H&G's Connie Nelson gives tips for a great holiday tabletop . (For the full schedule, visit www.theaffairmpls.com.) The event is from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday in Hall E of the Minneapolis Convention Center. Advance tickets are $25 ($30 at the door) at Kowalski's Markets, Panera Bread and Gaviidae Common, and the website.

"Perfect Parties," a gathering from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, sponsored by Mpls.St.Paul magazine, includes demonstrations on cooking, home décor, table settings and flowers. A fashion show, gift bags and samples of food, wine and beer complete the festivities. Order your $20 ticket at www.mspmag.com/perfectparties or pick up a discounted $15 ticket at Galleria Guest Services or Bachman's. Each ticket comes with a complimentary cookbook, to be distributed at the gathering. Woman's Club of Minneapolis, 410 Oak Grove St.

• Get a jump on your holiday crafting. You can make a mosaic glass ornament for free Saturday as part of the fifth-birthday celebration for Mosaic on a Stick in St. Paul. Bring a nonperishable item for the Keystone Community Services food shelf; 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., 595 N. Snelling Av., St. Paul.

WE SPOTTED IT

A new, citrus-based cleaning product does double duty with dishwashers and garbage disposals. Citrus-scented Affresh comes six tablets to a package for $5.99; one treatment -- to neutralize odor -- is two tablets for a dishwasher, one for the disposal. While the aim is laudable -- you can never make a dishwasher smell good enough -- manufacturer Whirlpool Corp. earns a knock for overpackaging; each tablet comes ensconced in its own plastic wrapper.

WEB WATCH

www.kitchenbathideas .com

This newly redesigned site (with ties to the Better Homes and Gardens publisher) for kitchen and bath décor has added more than 2,000 images and almost 200 slide shows to prime your interest and imagination. Also included are Editor Picks for products and a weekly newsletter. One nifty function: a list of steps for assessing kitchen and bathroom needs, in order to better plan your remodeling project or update.

KIM YEAGER, CONNIE NELSON