Wise gardening begins with patience

Gardeners with the impulse to start their spring planting should proceed with caution.

An extraordinarily wet season has left the soil too heavy and soggy for heat-loving summer vegetables such as tomatoes, eggplant, peppers and beans.

Damon Collingsworth, a nurseryman at Harmony Farm Supply in Sebastopol, said too much rain into the spring can leave tomatoes subject to late blight, a fungus that leaves brown lesions on the stems. And even splashing raindrops can cause it to spread.

"A lot of people got it bad last year because it rained so late," he said. "When things are warm and wet, fungal things go crazy."

Other veggies like peppers may not get diseased, but they could stall out if it's cold and wet, so Collingsworth said it's best to hold off a couple of weeks for your summer garden.

Much of Sonoma County has heavy adobe clay soil. And even if you've been working your ground by adding amendments for years, it still may be too wet, leaving the ground too difficult to work, said Wylie Hartman, a Sonoma County Master Gardener.

"Your seeds will rot in the ground if you put them in now. Even with lettuce and spinach, you'd be lucky to get any seed to sprout for you. We need a week or two, preferably, of sunny weather and no rain to dry out the soil so you can get in and work it. If the soil is wet, it will compact; and if you have adobe, it is practically like cement."

Hartman said for tomatoes, it's best to wait until morning temperatures are at least 50 degrees.

Bedding plants, however, should be fine if you've got good drainage or are planting in containers.

If you've got the serious itch, concentrate now on your pots and containers.

Master Gardener Barbara Kirbach of Sonoma said if you are inclined to plant anyway, make sure you put amendments in the hole. "Otherwise, it just becomes hard clay, and the poor little roots can't find their way."

-- Meg McConahey