‘It’s been slow starting’: Cold, wet spring has delayed growing season for gardeners

Earl’s Greenhouses in North Sydney, N.S., is pictured on June 5, 2026. (CTV Atlantic / Ryan MacDonald)

Earl’s Greenhouses in North Sydney, N.S., has been in business for more than 100 years.

Earl MacPherson has been around for more than 50 of them. He says this year has been a struggle.

“Very cold and wet spring,” MacPherson said on Friday. “There was no sun and that, it kind of put a lot of the plants behind.”

While there were plenty of flowers to choose from Friday and a decent number of customers came through the doors, MacPherson said the early delay in growing caused a setback to the beginning of spring business.

“It’s been slow starting – way down from last year, of course,” he said. “Because last year in May, people were planting their flowers out in early May last year – it was that much warmer.”

Some gardeners said they typically feel safest planting vegetables around mid-June.

“Around the 15^th, we put in our little garden – the vegetables,” said customer Neil Morrison.

Morrison added he plans to wait for a longer stretch of sunny weather before taking his flowers out of the shed. He is optimistic next week’s weather will be good.

“You can just see with one day of sun, you can see the difference in plants,” said MacPherson. “So, just hopefully it’s going to improve from now on.”

In Stanley Bridge, P.E.I., Michael Bergeron’s backyard garden is also a bit behind.

“This year, I had to fight with a bit more watering than usual and it was so cold that a lot of stuff did not grow yet,” Bergeron said on Friday.

While some berries have started to grow, he is holding off for now on everything else.

“I’ll try to not plant all my vegetables right away,” said Bergeron. “I’ll still be a bit more careful. Maybe another week, then I’ll start planting everything.”

A week ago, on May 29, there were a few centimeters of snow on parts of Cape Breton Island. Still, gardeners figure the worst of the spring weather is now over.

“The snow is gone, so my shorts are on,” said Morrison.

For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page