Behold! Spring!

(Imagine your arms wide open, head tilted toward the sky like the children from the Peanuts cartoon.)

If you linger for a moment, you’ll notice the trees are awake. These first leaves of the new season are a pale green, and will soon darken as the foliage matures.

Why do we love things that come and go so quickly — sunsets, rainbows, shooting stars … ? Maybe because we look intently when we know they will soon be gone.

If you take a drive into the foothills right now, you’ll note the “young” growth at the tips of the evergreen branches, creating a bi-color effect. This is especially true of cypress trees.

Just like puppies and the terms of our credit cards, plants change before we know it. One day we’ll gawk at almond blooms. After one solid storm, those almond petals cover the orchard floor.

Pink star magnolia flowers (http://tinyurl.com/h3whr58) will wow you today and look like sidewalk mush tomorrow.

Take pictures. They really do last longer.

In my neighborhood the lilac is on the scene and forsythia is heralding the season. Yellow petals of Virginia creeper are scattered across the yard, looking like confetti after Mardi Gras.

Its easy to get wrapped up in the rapture of new beginnings. Yet, there is work to be done.

MORE YANKING

This week I had two vacation days. I’d love to say I worked for hours in the yard. However, my chiropractor has warned me to take it easy. A recent vow is to yank at least one weed while walking to the car, and at least one weed when walking from the car to the house.

With the soil wet after recent rain, weed-yanking is an easy task.

In my yard, I have a new offender called little mallow (http://goo.gl/1SvwG4) also known as “cheeseweed.”

This garden bully has a sturdy taproot that is nearly impossible to yank once the soil hardens.

I tried last year and gained new respect for this plant as a garden foe.

Last year I spent a good deal of time yanking mature cheeseweed plants. This year hundreds of tiny cheeseweed sprouts occupy this same terrain.

Young seedlings, by the way, are a great job for the garden hoe.

WAIT A BIT LONGER

March and April are tricky months for the home gardener. We start seeing plants for sale in front of the grocery stores. Naturally, this makes us think its time to buy plants.

However, I warn you to be a bit more cautious.

Head for your favorite local nursery and talk with the knowledgable staff. Rather than planting warm-weather plants, what about lettuce and peas? The nursery crew may also talk to you about other plants that will fit the season and the current drought conditions.

You can also chat with Sherri Scott, who has a beautiful plant cart at the Saturday farmers market in Chico. She’ll set you up with vegetables and herbs suitable for planting now.

TULIP TIME

This reminds me, you can buy one-gallon containers bursting with tulips at the market right now, while supplies last. Charlie (and his son) were there last week, and I’m guessing they will still have tulips this Saturday.

I recently asked Charlie his opinion about my hyacinth bulbs.

Hyacinth bulbs can be grown indoors by placing the bulb in a specialty vase. The key is to have the base of the bulb just barely touching the water.

Most garden books suggest simply tossing the tired bulb into the compost pile. The reason is that the bulb has used most of its stored energy to produce the bloom.

Charlie agreed it can’t hurt to put those hyacinth bulbs in a the ground right now. The worst thing that can happen is the bulbs will rot in the ground. Best case scenario, I’ll forget about them and they’ll bloom next spring.

As with any spent bulb, remove the flower stalk. Keep the leaves. This is very important. The leaves contain stored energy that will be reabsorbed by the bulb.

This year my experiment is to place the bulbs, roots and all into a big pot filled with soil. The green stems are still poking above the soil. This way, the leaves will die back on their own. Later I’ll tuck the pot near the side of the house and let them go dormant over the next several months. Later this summer I’ll decide whether to dig them up for storage or let them remain in the pot.

My decision will be based on whether I need that particular pot to grow something else.

. Other contacts @HeatherHacking on Twitter and Facebook.

It’s bare-root season, when local nurseries have dormant trees and plants for sale.

These are usually less expensive than plants sold in large tubs filled with soil. Roses are among the popular bare-root sellers.

The cool season is a good time to plant trees and shrubs because the roots will benefit from winter rains and have a chance to expand into the soil.

When digging a hole for a new plant, try to dig several days after it rains.

If you dig when the soil is muddy, you’re likely to compact the soil.

Last week I chatted up Bob Scoville, a patient and knowledgable volunteer with the Glenn County Master Gardener Program.

He said he recently learned some pretty interesting things about cherry tree pests, and was eager to share the news with others.

That’s how these Master Gardeners are. They learn something new, they want to tell us all about it.

The critter is the spotted wing drosophila, and its prime targets are cherries and berries.

You can read all about it here: http://goo.gl/L0wuFC

The critter is among what Scoville refers to as “vinegar flies,” or flies that find their way to rotting fruit.

What is especially alarming about drosophila is that it lays eggs in healthy fruit as well as fruit that has already dropped to the ground. The buggers’ favorite treats are soft-skinned fruit including cherries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries and strawberries. They’re also known to go after boysenberries and nectarines.

How it works is the adult fly lays her eggs just under the skin of your otherwise perfectly good cherry. The eggs become maggots, and the maggots nibble their way to adulthood.

The University of California Integrated Pest Management website notes that after the otherwise perfectly healthy fruit starts to get nasty, other common vinegar flies will come along and lay their eggs in that same fruit.

The maggot eventually gets full, grows to full-grown, exits the fruit and immediately begins to find a way to procreate. The mating begins about mid May, or when temperatures reach 68 degrees. Things slow down when its hotter than 86 degrees.

Ten generations of the flies may occur each year.

The pests were originally from Japan and are relatively new to California.

Before planting a cherry tree, Bob suggested a homeowner wait until spring and test to see whether the drosophila are in your neighborhood.

SETTING A TRAP

In early May, grab a one-quart plastic yogurt container and drill 10-16 holes, about 3/16 of an inch in diameter around the upper side of the container.

It was funny that Bob was so specific about the dimensions of the holes, but there must be a reason, so I just ran with it.

Then add about 1-2 inches of pure apple cider vinegar to the container. (Flavored cider doesn’t work, Bob said knowingly).

Then, here’s the real trick, add a drop of unscented dish soap.

The soap stays on the surface of the liquid, providing a layer that coats the surface tension.

The bugs are attracted to the cider, find themselves in the liquid, fall under the surface of the liquid and can’t break the surface.

The drosophila can be distinguished from regular vinegar flies because the males have spots on their wings, thus the name.

Oh yes, their size is 1/16th to 1/8 of an inch long, thus the importance of the six of the holes in the yogurt container.

BUG CONTROL

The best first step is to prevent the future life cycles by keeping the area clean under the tree, clearing away any fallen fruit.

Don’t compost the fruit, but place it in plastic bags.

If the pest is in your neighborhood, it might be better not to plant cherries, berries and strawberries.

If you already have these plants, Bob suggested providing a protective layer of netting.

Harvesting the fruit early also reduces exposure to the pest, he said.

Chemical controls include Spinosad, an insecticide used to control olive fruit fly.

A Spinosad product is Monterey Garden Insect Spray, he advised, http://goo.gl/xT9POU

Blooms of a Zygo cactus (right) are stunning on cold days. On the left is a jade plant.Heather Hacking —Enterprise-Record

A week until Christmas and I am feeling calm and collected.

After one more big shopping trip to the Saturday farmers market, I’ll be done with the holiday hunting and gathering.

This weekend, others will be stuck in traffic along 20th Street. People will drive around in circles, hoping for a parking spot within view of the mall.

Some will wait in line, others will cut in line.

People will ruin their sense of smell by sniffing 150 types of perfume, all which smell exactly the same. How am I able avoid this madness?

I started shopping in October.

When my sister and I attended the Native Ways event in Oroville, we gobbled Indian bread and I bought a jar of the batter mix.

On Sierra Oro Farm Trail, my friend liked the garlic and jalapeno olive oil at Butte View. I bought two bottles, one for me and one for the gift box.

Downtown Chico Christmas Preview, gifts, gifts.

Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens gift shop, Fort Bragg fFiremen’s bazaar and Farm City bus tour, more gifts.

My sister is so kind. She knows how much I hate shopping, so she handed me a list of things she wanted from her favorite online vegan store.

Mom and I shopped in October. She tried on a Renaissance-style corset at a local clothing boutique. The moment she left my house, I raced back to the store and bagged it.

OUTDOOR FOOD BOUTIQUE

To fill in the gift gaps, I’ll drop a few coins at the farmers market  Saturday. I can’t think of better treats than bags of granola, flavored nuts, red walnuts, dried apricots, kiwis, farmstead cheese and even chicken feet (if they have them). I could also splurge on artisan bread, fragrant soap, pottery, bees wax candles, winter squash, winter caps, almond butter, jam … If I am able to visit my family in the Bay Area this year, they love it when I bring a box of apples from Noble Orchards. You just can’t buy apples like that in a big city.

PLANT SURPRISES

I love plants and people often give me plants as gifts.

Way back when, Elaine Gray bought me a blooming zygo cactus during the holidays.

That was 15 years ago, or more. The plant was still alive but I had not changed the soil all that time

The cactus never bloomed again, and who could blame it. That soil probably contained as much nutrients as a handful of styrofoam packing peanuts.

When I had uterine cancer surgery last spring, I brought all my plants from work to my home.

The zygo cactus sat outside for a while, and complained by dropping many of its “leaves.”

(Zygo cactus does not like too much sun).

Eventually I gave it a new pot and some new soil, and stashed the plant in the shade.

One day I heard that it might freeze overnight, so I pulled a few succulents inside, including the zygo.

This week it bloomed.

I’ve heard that plants sometimes bloom when they are tortured. Some genetic trigger is sprung and the plant “thinks” it would be best to procreate now rather than never.

Just for fun, I looked up the care instructions for zygo cactus. As it turns out, a few of the things I did this year may have actually encouraged the plant to bloom.

AUniversity of California pamphlet says to give the plants about 12 hours of darkness each day to encourage the buds to form. This was accomplished by putting the plant in the living room in winter.

Also, the plant needs to be relatively cool when the buds are forming.

I didn’t know it at the time, but placing the plant near the door (and the chilly outdoors) may have lead to the lovely pink flowers.

The lesson here is to appreciate unexpected blooms, and not to blame yourself if your gift cactus never blooms again.

I don’t know about you, but I think I really need to get my hands dirty this weekend.

One day I’m amazed by how well the lettuce is growing, the next day I’m picking Velcro weeds off the cat.

Weeds have some built-in mechanism that lets them know humans will leave them alone in early spring.

Predictably, we head to Horseshoe Lake when the weather first turns beautiful. We never think about staying home to pull common groundsel from the ground.

Weeds know when our cars pull away from the driveway. This triggers them to grow two inches, produce flowers and cast seeds into the afternoon breeze.

We arrive home after dark because we languished at Shuberts Ice Cream after a hike up and down monkey face.

Last week I asked my boyfriend to buy more string for the weed whacker. I think the tall grass actually heard our conversation. We still have no string for the whacker and the tall grass has gone to seed.

DROUGHT TO BLAME

When in doubt, we can blame the drought for more weeds in the yard.

Once upon a time I would walk the perimeter of the yard each morning and most nights. I was curious to see if the dianthus had bloomed or whether the buds had opened on the grape vine.

Each time I made a circle in the yard I yanked at weeds in my path.

Now I have potted plants at the front door and lettuce growing in a black plastic truck-bed liner.

If I walk a circle around the yard it’s because I want privacy while talking on the phone.

Weeds are also going crazy in our yards because we aren’t filling up space with new plants from the nursery.

WET WEEKEND

From what I’ve heard, we’re due for another blast of wet weather. This means pulling weeds is easy, and we won’t be in the park working on a pre-tan.

MORE WORDS ON WEEDS

I called my buddy Bob Scoville over at the Glenn County Master Gardener program. He is one of the nice volunteers who take classes to help answer our garden questions for free.

You can call them in Glenn County 2-4 p.m. Wednesdays at 865-1107.

In Butte County, reach a knowledgeable plant person 9 a.m. to noon Wednesdays or 1-4 p.m. Thursdays by calling 538-7201.

Bob said he attended a recent workshop where one of the big discussions was choosing the right hoe.

I own a hoe, but frankly I forget how much damage I could do with a tool on a stick. Usually I want to yank those plants from the roots with my bare hands.

Hoes are perfect when the plants are mere seedlings. They’re also great for back-breaking jobs.

If you think about Velcro weeds, they naturally stick together. Using a hoe to pull Velcro weeds would be like spinning cotton candy.

Here’s a cool link to a longer discussion about different types of hoes: http://tinyurl.com/haej656

ZAP THEM EARLY

I also checked in with Jerry Mendon at Mendon’s Nursery in Paradise, and asked specifically about apply pre-emergent chemicals to the yard.

He said March is the month if you are going to try a pre-emergent, particularly for crabgrass. The tricky part is the timing, Jerry noted. You want to catch it just before the seeds from last year have a chance to sprout.

If you get on it too soon, the rain”washes the material away, he said.

One product people seem to like is called Amaze, the long-time gardener said.

“Here at the nursery we put down gravel” to control the weeds, he said.

. Other contacts @HeatherHacking on Twitter and Facebook.