"Get ready, get your green thumb going, it's time".

That's from Our Farm Greenhouse Manager Shea Doherty who shares some gardening tips for those who plan to begin gardening now the May Long weekend is over. 

"Get that ground prepped, get it ready, put some fertiliser in. Fertiliser is always good to help plants whether you go to natural, that being manure, or if you go with Miracle-Gro. Miracle-Gro you apply after, manure before."

Doherty recommends using a mix of both fertilisers but says when planting flowers from the six-pack trays allow a week for the plants to become established before adding the fertiliser. He notes both flowers and vegetables need fertiliser.

"A lot of people think flowers need a lot of food, vegetables don't. But that's why we get blossom-end rot with tomatoes, it's because we're not feeding them, therefore, there is no calcium substance in the soil and that's why we get little black spots on all our tomatoes."

Doherty notes while there probably won't be another major frost it's still a good idea to keep some blankets handy to cover your plants as Manitoba weather can be unpredictable.