Watch above: While the May long weekend is typically used to plant gardens in Saskatchewan, this year the forecast isn’t that nice. Aaron Streck finds out what the experts recommend enthusiasts do instead.
SASKATOON – The Victoria Day long weekend can be hit and miss weather-wise … we’ve even had snow some years. This weekends’ cool forecast isn’t likely to stop avid gardeners from digging in.
“We have not seen a season like this where its warm so early so it is normal for us to have these cooler nights but because we are having such warm day time temperatures it’s getting people really excited to get out there and plant,” said Dutch Growers Owner and Greenhouse manager Jill Van Duyvendyk.
But Jill Van Duyvendyk says this weekend might be better spent preparing to plant as the weather is expected to be below seasonal.
“What you want to do is harden your plants off, what that means is, most plants are grown in either B.C. or greenhouses here in Saskatchewan … so you want to harden them off get them used to the weather slowly, that’s three or four nights, putting them out during the day bringing them in at night so that they are used to that weather, once you’re done that they are safe to plant them out,” said Van Duyvendyk.
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The ideal planting condition during the day is 15 degrees with the nights dipping to between 7 and 10 degrees.
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“If you’ve jumped the gun and you’ve planted them outside no worries just take a blanket, cover them over with a blanket, just keep that frost off,” said Van Duyvendyk.
Janet Wanner has spent 22 years in the landscaping business. She says an early long weekend also has it’s affects in the yard.
“Cutting the lawn and vac decking it, getting the leaves out; its also a little bit early you can’t seed the lawn or over seed it if you’ve got some damage but you can lay some soil down,” said Janet Wanner, with Gentle Earth Design Studios.
“Prep and edge the lawn and look at what kind of weeds you’re going to get this year.”
Spring and summer on the Prairies are short but the experts advise gardeners to be patient, give it a few days and the overnight lows will be warm enough for gardens to be planted.
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