Around the Yard

Things to do this week:

* Plant bare root vegetables. Roots of artichoke, asparagus and rhubarb are at nurseries this month, and it’s an inexpensive way to plant them. You’ll also find transplants of many winter vegetables, such as broccoli and lettuce, plus bulbs of garlic, onion and shallots.

This is not a good month to sow seed in the garden because the chilly nights make germination difficult.

* Spray fruit trees again. Spray deciduous fruit trees--peaches in particular--for the second time this winter. On the leafless trees, use environmentally safe dormant oils plus fungicides, such as copper or liquid sulfur (but don’t use sulfur on apricots). The oil will smother lingering insect pests, and these basic fungicides control peach-leaf curl and other disease spores.