GARDENING IN LA NINA'S WORLD; NEW THINKING FOR COLD, DRY CONDITIONS.

Byline: Carol Bidwell Daily News Staff Writer

Usually, January finds gardeners sitting snugly inside while the rain drums on the roof.

They peruse seed catalogs and plan their next garden. They may even clean and oil their trowels and shovels.

What they don't do is water. Mother Nature usually provides plenty of that.

But this year, La Nina, the dry year that traditionally follows a wet El Nino year, has left gardeners high and dry - and triggered an unseasonably early spring.

For gardeners, the unusual weather creates a good news-bad news situation.

The good news is that now is a fine time to plant cold-weather vegetables and nearly any flower available at commercial nurseries because, while days are warm enough for flowers, they're not hot enough to make cool-season veggies bolt and go to seed.

The bad news is that since Mother Nature isn't providing her usual January rains, home gardeners need to supply the missing moisture for both existing and new plants.

Winter zoomed right through, announcing itself only briefly with two short wet spells in early November and early December (dropping a total of less than 2 inches of the wet stuff, about one-third of normal to date), then a cold snap in mid-December (when temperatures dipped into the high 20s for two or three nights in a row, freezing many tender plants). And true winter, with its usual cold temperatures and gray, rainy days, shows no signs of returning, as daytime temperatures consistently hit the 70s and 80s.

Although some retail nursery owners warn that another cold spell could show up to freeze newly planted flowers and veggies, weather experts say there's no sign of either significant rain or greenery-freezing cold in the forecast for late January or early February.

``The forecasts I've seen are for a similar pattern to continue,'' said William Russell, professor of meteorology at Pierce College. ``The winter season runs from October through April, and I'm sure we'll get some rain before April, but it'll probably be far less than normal. We usually get about 15 inches, but this is a real sporadic pattern. There's no telling what will happen.''

Plants listen to nothing but their own internal clock. All they know is that warm weather means winter's over and spring's here.

``Trees that usually leaf out in late February are coming to life now,'' said Yvonne Savio, manager of the University of California Extension's Common Ground Garden Program. ``It's so warm, they think it's time to wake up. Spring's two months early this year.''

So go ahead and start that garden. But before you do, check the moisture level in your soil; El Nino and La Nina may have another surprise in store.

``People need to take a trowel and dig down four to six inches to see what's happening in the soil,'' Savio advised. ``Despite the fact that it's been quite a while since it's rained, they should see that it's still quite moist because it hasn't been hot enough during the day for the soil moisture to evaporate.''

There's a simple rule of thumb for judging your backyard soil conditions. If the soil down 4 to 6 inches deep sticks together when you grab a handful, it's too wet, Savio says. If it crumbles in your hand, it's ready for planting. And if it's light-colored and dry, get out the hose.

Dry soil around established plants - or where you're planting new growth - should be well watered to a depth of at least 6 inches, which means about a half-hour of watering for a light, sandy soil or up to two hours for heavy clay soils. Some heavy soils may be so hard to saturate, you may have to water for 15 minutes or so every few hours so the water will penetrate instead of running off.

``When it gets hot, those plants are going to be raring to go because they're already established,'' Savio said. ``What you have to plan for is not now, but for those weeks when we have above 90-degree temperatures, and those plants are big and they'll need lots of water.''

While vegetable growers are preparing to protect new seedlings, flower gardeners so far are less worried by the lack of winter rainfall.

Irises and other rhizome- and bulb-based plants like tulips, daffodils, lily of the valley, jonquils, crocus and narcissus aren't suffering - yet - because they have their own energy source, said Jeanne Clay Plank, vice president of the San Fernando Valley Iris Society. But as temperatures climb and they begin to leaf out, they'll need watering, too.

And she is concerned about the possibility of another cold snap.

``The closer we get to March and April, and if it dips down to the 50s and 60s and nighttimes are in the 40s, then you get a very distorted bud, misshapen flowers, short stalks.''

Roses, hardy plants that can withstand the ice and snow of colder regions, are mostly dormant now, when gardeners are pruning back dead wood and getting rid of old leaves that may carry rust, black spot or other diseases, said Bev Osborne, president of the San Fernando Valley Rose Society.

``They're getting along fine, but they do need water now - at least once a week,'' she said. ``A lot of people haven't watered, waiting for it to rain. Well, it's not, and roses that haven't been getting any water kind of stay in a little comatose state.

``But they're very hardy. It takes a lot of neglect to kill a rose. Water, prune and feed them, and they'll leaf right out. When you have winds, you should water maybe twice a week. If you have roses in pots, you should water them every other day.''

Now's also the time to deep-water trees, said Robin Pokorski, president of the Southern California Garden Club, who points out that an early, warm spring may be a harbinger of a long, hot summer.

``If trees are watered now so they develop deep roots, they'll have a better chance of getting through a drought,'' she said. ``If they're well-rooted and healthy, the lack of water later on won't hurt our trees and sturdy bushes, like azalea and lilac, that have been going for years.''

MOTHER NATURE'S WORST

El Nino has come and gone, but La Nina has yet to unveil her plans for us in 1999. She'll have to work hard to top some of the strangest weather phenomenons Valley residents have experienced in the past half-century:

Cold

January 1989

Winds up to 25 mph prompted forecasters to issue a wind chill warning, predicting temperatures the equivalent of 40 degrees below zero in some high Valley areas.

Floods

February 1992

A series of storms dropped nearly 12 inches of rain in three days in Woodland Hills; a boulder dislodged by mudslides rolled through the bedroom of a Ventura couple, killing them; a 15-year-old Woodland Hills boy drowned when he was swept away in a flood-control channel; four dozen motorists were stranded atop their cars in the Sepulveda Dam Basin.

Hail

March 1990

A sudden storm pelted the Valley with hail and sleet. As temperatures dropped from the mid-60s to the mid-40s within a few minutes, snow levels dropped below 2,300 feet, blanketing the Santa Susana Mountains west of Newhall and the hills above Glendale.

Snow

January 1949

A three-day storm left more than a foot of snow in some Valley areas, including 14 inches on Ventura Boulevard in Woodland Hills.

Tornadoes

May 1998

A tornado sped through a largely uninhabited farming area between Camarillo and the coastline before dissipating near Point Mugu, causing no damage and no injuries. The same day, a stronger tornado hit Long Beach, damaging an auto dealership.

Dig in and start planting

With this year's apparent early spring, gardeners can do some planting that normally would have to wait until January rains ended. Here are some tips from the University of California Cooperative Extension on what to plant now:

Vegetables

Plant cold-season crops like lettuce, spinach, broccoli, cauliflower, kohlrabi, cabbage, greens, onions, peas, radishes, kale, chard and rhubarb. Leave warm-season veggies - tomatoes, peppers, squash, cucumbers, beans - until the days and nights are warmer.

Herbs

Put in rosemary, thyme, sage. Leave the more tender herbs - basil, parsley, oregano, mint, chives, coriander, dill, tarragon and marjoram - until the weather's warmer.

Fruit

Plant grapes, berry vines and strawberries through March. Now's also the time to put into the ground bare-root fruit and nut trees (except citrus and avocados, which need warmer weather).

Flowers

Plant wildflowers, including California and Shirley poppies, bare-root roses, snapdragons, stocks, sweet peas, sweet william, hollyhocks, alyssum, calendulas, columbines, English daisy, delphiniums, forget-me-nots, violets, larkspur, pansies and most other flowers that can be found in commercial nurseries.

Ornamental trees

Plant acacia, dogwood, forsythia, lilac, mimulus, flowering quince. Wait until it grows warmer to plant jacaranda, Brazilian pepper and coral trees.

The deeper the better for roots

La Nina may try to keep the rain at bay, but gardeners who prepare for dry weather now can still look forward to a lush spring.

The trick? Train your plants to drink deeply.

Yvonne Savio, manager of the University of California Cooperative Extension's Common Ground Garden Program, says the key to surviving droughts is to help your plants establish deep, drought-resistant roots.

For vegetables, Savio offers this gardening tip:

Dig a hole the depth of a one- or five-gallon bucket, then sink the bucket - the kind larger nursery plants come in, with drainage holes in the bottom - up to the lip in the soil. Plant seeds - this is particularly good with squash, cucumbers or other climbers that don't like to be transplanted - in little depressions around the outside of the bucket. Water well to make seeds sprout. After seedlings begin to grow, fill the bucket with water once a week or more often when it's hot and dry or windy. The water will drain slowly through the holes, and the plants' roots will reach down for the water.

Place a large tomato cage over the bucket, and the new plants will have something to climb on, keeping the fruit off the soil and making it easier to harvest.

- Carol Bidwell

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos, 3 Boxes

Photo: (1--Cover--Color) FLOWER POWER

For strong growth this spring, prepare now

Photo illustration by John Lazar/Daily News

(2) Vegetable plants grown from seed will grow deep roots if they're watered through a nursery bucket sunk in the ground.

Box: (1) MOTHER NATURE'S WORST (See text)

(2) Dig in and start planting (See text)

(3) The deeper the better for roots (See text)