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The parking lot is empty under the familiar windmill, and the store is dark. But there’s still a lot of work being done at Dutch Growers Garden Centre in Saskatoon.
While normally at this time of year it would be buzzing with eager green thumbs getting advice from staff on what kinds of seedlings they need, the chirp of birds outside the greenhouses and soil dispensing equipment are now prominent.
Staff is down to a skeleton crew, says owner and manager Jill Van Duyvendyk. Those who are left are busy though, anticipating big demand for garden plants and seeds in the coming weeks. She says some garden centres in B.C. and Ontario have already been deemed essential services.
“People need to have access to plant their own food and vegetables and things like that. We are gearing up for that; for people to be able to purchase things online if this does last a longer period of time.”
At this point, staff are pumping up production of their perennial stock, and even some of their annuals like tomatoes – but holding back more on ornamental type plants.
“We’re talking with our growers and making sure that we have the right product mixes for something like this,” said Van Duyvendyk,” where people might be staying home a little bit more and working on their yards and doing more square foot gardening with vegetable plants.”
How much more, is the big question. Van Duyvendyk admits their stock is healthy, but there are finite amounts of seeds and seedlings.
“There might be a large demand for things, much more than we’ve ever seen before, so there’s only a certain amount of plants that are grown and you can’t just start growing plants when they need a season to get started.”
That’s why she believes it’s a good idea to start either buying or thinking about what kinds of seeds you’ll need this year.
The business is organizing now, to allow for pre-orders and if the doors aren’t open in a month or so, people can order their products online and have them delivered or can call ahead to have them ready for pick up.
She adds that for those who may be just starting out, have little room, or don’t know how to get started, they have videos and tutorials available online to help out.
“We’re even actually working on getting kits put together so that in the kits you’ll be able to have everything you need to plant maybe, if you like doing lots of cooking with pasta, maybe you have your ‘pasta kit’ put together.”
The last week of May is usually when gardeners begin putting their plants out to acclimatize them to the outdoors and to the soil.
Anyone looking for additional information on seminars or tutorials can go here.
