Around the Yard

Things to do this week:

* Plant veggies. Finally, it’s warm enough to put into the garden the rest of those summer vegetables, including the big beefsteak tomatoes. Other candidates for the summer garden include lima and snap beans, beets, carrots, chard, corn, cucumbers, eggplant, leeks, melon, peanuts, peppers, pumpkin, squash, sweet potatoes and tomatillos. And don’t forget the essential summer herbs, like basil and dill.

Those who garden near the coast can sneak in another planting of lettuce, especially the red-leaved or other kinds that stand a little summer warmth. Inland, you might try growing some of these under shade cloth, so you too can have a little lettuce with your tomatoes.

* Tune up roses. Although rather late, what a first flush of bloom we got on roses this year! To encourage bushes to do it all over again in early summer, prune the fading flower stalks back to a five-part leaf that faces out from the plant. Cut just above that leaf cluster at a slight angle.

Lightly fertilize and water regularly--always early in the morning so foliage dries by afternoon, which will discourage some diseases.