GARDEN PLOTS WARM ENOUGH TO PLANT VEGGIES.

Byline: JANE GATES Gardening

SANTA CLARITA - This has been a gentle winter and since spring is starting early, there's no reason we gardeners can't get gardening early, too.

If you've prepared your vegetable plots with lots of organic matter, you can start planting vegetables. Stay away from manure for root vegetables because it causes them to fork.

Some of the most tender vegetables, such as cucumbers and beans, may be at risk for late frosts, but you can take the chance if you'd like.

Most of the winter crops, such as lettuce, broccoli and cabbage, are likely to bolt - send up long, flowering shoots and become bitter - as soon as it becomes hot, so they probably don't have enough time left to mature if you plant them now. Peas also will be likely to succumb to mildew before setting a useful crop, so it's better to wait until autumn to plant them.

But tomatoes, peppers of all varieties, eggplants and squashes should be ready to take off as soon as they are planted. At this time last year, we were still having frosts at night, but this year the soil is already warming.

The hillsides are blazing with California poppies, mustard, lupine and other wildflowers. All the seeds that lay dormant from lack of water last year joined this year's crop to put on quite a display. You can enjoy it from the freeways or wander around in the California Poppy Reserve in Lancaster.

There will, however, be a downside to this lovely weather. The pests will be enjoying it, too.

Beware of coatings of aphids on the soft new growth of vegetables, roses and other plants in your garden. If you catch pests early, a good squirt with the garden hose should wash off enough of them to keep numbers down. But you will have to be vigilant and keep up the washing or the pests will proliferate and you will have to resort to insecticides.

Consider starting with the gentler materials like insecticidal soaps. These are better for our health and that of the environment even if they might not be quite as efficient as some of the stronger poisons.

Keep weeds pulled while they are small and before they set next year's seeds or compete for soil nutrients. Hand-pick snails. Put up rabbit fencing and under-wire garden areas with hardware cloth or chicken wire to protect from gophers. Try to use poisons carefully and only when necessary.

The Santa Clarita area still retains much of its natural beauty, and that comes from the delicate balance with nature. Although we might not like the behaviors of all those natural critters, they do have their place. The better we can live in harmony with them, the more likely it is that all of us will be able to share this beauty in safety.