Get your North Coast garden ready for spring

February taunted with a spring tease, but winter roared back in March with some heavy rains and a flourish of hail. What will April bring? Hopefully some new life in the garden.

The North Coast landscape appears to have come back to life with a lushness not seen in several years. Take that as an incentive to plant again, but with a new consciousness about conserving water.

In Sonoma County, April 15 is the accepted date when frost danger has passed and it is safe to plant. But that is only an average. Proceed with caution, knowing that Mother Nature can deliver surprises. What's important is warmer temperatures that stick around long enough to warm the soil.

Here's a checklist of things to do in the first full month of spring.

Continue Tidying Up. While you wait for frost danger to pass, do some heavy spring cleaning. Pull those weeds that have sprung up because of the rain. They take away nutrients, water and light from the plants you do care about. And they look messy. Do it now while the ground is still moist.

Some suggest going after those intruders between the cracks by dousing them with boiling water or applying white wine vinegar to their leaves. The acidity will kill them.

A good hoe can also be a handy weapon. Cut the weeds off just under the root crown, aiming for about a half-inch below the soil. A hoe will disturb the soil less than pulling.

Also clean up any debris left over from winter and finish cutting back summer-blooming perennials like salvia and penstemon before they start up again.

Water Works. Check your irrigation system for cracks, leaks and obstructions. Make sure your filters are clean and working, especially if you are on a well. Replace them if need be. Flush out your drip systems and check emitters. Replace batteries on systems that rely on battery-operated controllers. Check timers and fix if necessary.

Make Your Beds. Prepare your vegetable beds by removing weeds and working in some good organic matter of compost and/or aged manure.

Smart Planting. You can still plant in starts crops like lettuce and chard, as well as leeks, onions and brassicas including cauliflower and broccoli. But reign in your excitement and wait until May for really heat-dependent summer crops like tomatoes and peppers.

Examine the canes on vining plants, trimming damaged ones and retraining and securing to withstand the new growth ahead.

Sow hardy annuals directly in the ground for color and cuttings later on. These could include everything from cosmos, bachelor buttons and sunflowers to nasturtiums and zinnias. Be sure to keep the seed bed moist. Late in the month if frost seems safely past, directly sow crops like beets, carrots, chard, lettuce, cilantro, dill, potatoes, leeks and onions.

Be on aphid alert. These hungry pests will be showing up on roses and other tender new plant growth. They can be pinched or swabbed off. For bigger jobs, try insecticidal soap. And while a hard blast of water from the hose is another good, nontoxic weapon, the drought has taught us to be responsible with water. Sonoma County Master Gardeners say a hand vacuum might do the same trick.

Give some attention to your fruit trees. Fertilize your citrus and thin developing fruit such as apples, when they reach the size of a dime.

Plant some summer bulbs. If you haven't already, do it now. You'll thank yourself in a few months.

Visit one or more plant sales. They're cropping up throughout the month, put on by garden clubs and nonprofits. They support good causes, and you can get some good plants at very reasonable prices.

The Occidental Arts & Ecology Center holds its first sale of the season today and Sunday, with hundreds of open-pollinated, heirloom and rare varieties, all California Certified Organic and many started from their own seed collection.

They'll have things good to plant now, including culinary and medicinal herbs, drought-tolerant and permacultural plants and intriguing varieties from South America and Asia.

For a detailed list and directions, check out oaec.org.