SNOW two days in a row - a rare treat indeed! Winter has been hanging around for a while but spring will come in the lower desert this month. Keep those wraps over the faucets and clocks because freezing temperatures can still break our water lines. Cold winters make for sweet carrots and broccoli this year had the largest heads I've ever seen.

Cabbage is coming along nicely and broccoli, cauliflower, kale, chard, turnips, lettuce, beets, and collards have been dinner staples and will continue for a while. Cut cauliflower heads before the buds lengthen and spread, then dig out the plant; it won't regrow another head. Keep broccoli, though, because it will sprout side shoots after the main head is harvested. Brussels sprouts are slow to develop but tiny buds should be starting to form.

Even while enjoying the fruits of our labors, as gardeners, we always look ahead and we need to prepare for our summer plantings.

At Home: If you haven't started your tomato, eggplant, and pepper seeds at home, do so very soon. They need about 8-10 weeks of growth before setting outside. There is a tremendous potential inside a tiny seed and it is great fun to watch it grow! Pre-soak the seeds in a little water overnight to help them wake up. Choose a fine textured potting soil and put some in a bucket, stir in water to pre-moisten it then fill 2" pots, paper cups, or yogurt containers (that have drainage holes). Put one seed in each cup and label it. I cut strips from plastic milk jugs and write on them with a fine Sharpie marker and slip it in the edge of the pot for labels. Keep the soil moist and warm in the house, on thick old towels to insulate the roots. When green shoots appear give them as much sunshine as temperature allows - keep them always above 60 degrees F (they prefer over 70 when very young). Carrying them outside to your warm brick patio for a few hours then bringing them inside as it cools is ideal.

At the garden: Prepare open sections of ground at the garden for planting by digging in composted steer manure and granulated fertilizer. Major plantings will take place the end of March or early April so pace the work load.

Try planting seeds of peas (English or snap), carrots, beets, turnips, lettuce, and radishes. Put translucent frost guard fabric over them to warm the soil a little and speed germination. Remove it when the little sprouts push it up.

Irish potatoes go in the garden this month. They are not a root at all, but a tuber - a specialized fleshy part of an underground stem that stores food. They produce a better harvest if more of the stem is under the ground! "Seed" potatoes may be ordered for more varieties or found locally, or if you have a forgotten potato in your pantry that is growing sprouts it will grow and produce tender little new potatoes.

Dig a trench 12-18 inches deep and mix in organic matter with a little fertilizer containing phosphate, then fill it up halfway. Cut the growing "eyes" from a potato, but not too close, and set them in the bottom, 6-8 inches apart. Cover with about 2 inches of soil; irrigate. As the green shoots grow up a couple inches, cover them with soil and keep them moist. Repeat this until the trench is filled or even mounded up a little. DO NOT plant sweet potatoes until May, they are frost sensitive.