Calgary green thumbs advised to start gardening after May long weekend

The May long weekend is often seen as the unofficial start to summer, but for all those gardening enthusiasts it’s also a time to get your backyard together this season.

But CityNews Meteorologist, Michael Kuss, isn’t giving a green thumbs-up to start planting just yet.

He says waiting until Monday is probably for the best and warns you to pause before you plant those petunias.

“Temperatures are still going to be cool in the mornings over the weekend so we’ll be down around freezing zero, minus one. Now that’s not really a killing frost but it’s still maybe a little bit early for planting the gardens, especially the delicate stuff that is already above ground,” said Kuss.

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As he says Monday looks to have the nicest weather to get those plants in the ground.

“Temperatures build towards the end of the long weekend so if you want to hold off as far as the gardening, the planting goes it might be best Monday as opposed to earlier than that.

“We are still looking at temperatures down around freezing or just a little bit below. So if you do have delicate plants like peppers or tomatoes you might want to cover those up if you are going to get them in the ground early,” he explained.

–With files from Kenny Mason and Lisa Grant