With little rain, vegetable growers may turn to irrigation

Vegetable growers at the Regina Farmers’ Market have definitely noticed the lack of moisture in the province this spring.

“It’s pretty dry out our way. I’ve got all my gardens in and if we don’t get rain on the weekend, I’m really going to start watering because otherwise nothing’s going to germinate,” Sharon Reiss-Howe, who grows organic vegetables on five acres near Edenwold, said Wednesday.

Reiss-Howe said it’s the third season where conditions have been dry, a departure from the recent past when it was wet.

An irrigation system, she said, is becoming a necessity.

“The way the seasons are getting drier and drier, a person’s going to have to (irrigate) otherwise you’re not … able to grow much,” she said.

Bob Purton from Kangro Gardening is hoping for rain on his Yorkton-area farm. (Joseph Ho/980 CJME)

It’s not cheap, though. Bob Purton from Kangro Gardening outside Yorkton said the equipment itself can be expensive and then there’s the cost of water.

Most of his income comes from his greenhouse but Purton grows cabbage, kohlrabi, beets and carrots in the field.

The area where he farms has received between zero and 25 millimetres of cumulative rainfall since the growing season began, according to the Saskatchewan Ministry of Agriculture’s May 16 crop report.

“We’re trying to get away with not irrigating because the water is not the same as rainwater,” he said. “Hopefully it’ll come yet. We’re just sitting with crossed fingers at this point.”