Garden centres and lawn care businesses in Calgary are expecting “total chaos” in the next few weeks, as they look to level out what has been a bumpy start to the growing season.
“Once May hit we got into the snow and the rain, so we are kind of about 50 per cent behind right now,” said Meryl Coombs, president of Spruce It Up Garden Centre.
“These next four weekends the weather looks great, it’s full speed ahead.”
Coombs is used to the unpredictability of planting in Calgary’s climate, having been in the industry since he was a teenager, and anticipates sales will pick up as the temperature rises.
“You can plant 90 per cent of the plants you have. There’s a few exceptions,” he said.
Coombs recommends holding off planting begonias, impatiens, cucumbers and some types of melons until the first week of June.
‘Most challenging season yet,’ says co-owner of lawn care business
Other weather-dependent businesses are feeling some strain.
James Szojka, co-owner of Yard Dawgs, and his crew are currently working additional hours to finish lawns previously too wet to power rake.
“Our clients, they’ve been overall quite patient, but at the same time their green grass is coming up and they want the job done now. When you have 600 people saying, ‘Please come out right now,’ you have to work overtime to make sure you can deliver,” he said.
He calls this year “the most challenging.”
Yard Dawgs was able to start working at the beginning of April, a lot earlier than normal, but since a lot of its crew is made up of university students who were still writing exams, additional staff had to be trained.
A period of snow and rain that followed brought the operations to a temporary halt, and now the pressure is on.
“We need make sure we are getting lawns done promptly, efficiently, and at the same time we have to work around the weather,” said Szojka.
Those worried about the weather in the coming days can check the latest forecast on the CTV Calgary weather page.
