Victoria Day weekend – Canada’s long-awaited, unofficial start of summer – is almost here. The weather is warming up, gardens are coming into their own and, sure, it might not be swimming weather quite yet, but there’s nothing stopping you from heading out to enjoy some surf and sand at a local beach. If you’re looking for some ways to add a bit of fun to your May long weekend, here are our top picks.

Get growing
Whether you have a couple of acres or a tiny balcony, this is a good time to amend your soil and to plant a few hardy vegetables for an early summer harvest. You don’t need much real estate to plant radishes, peas and greens – those plants are happy to go into cool soil and will deliver tasty treats right through June. This is also a good time to plant up a container garden or two – consider some easy veggies, an herb garden or early blooming plants that will support your local pollinators. This handy planting guide from Halifax Seed shows the best time to get your seeds and transplants into the ground.

Open a (bug) hotel
Gardening experts recommend against doing a full garden clean-up until the weather warms up because the dead stems provide places for helpful insects to overwinter. If you want to tidy up but don’t want to evict the creepy-crawlies, consider building a bug hotel. It’s a good way to creatively reuse garden cast-offs, too: combine bits of bamboo, bunches of sticks, piles of rocks and a terracotta pot that didn’t survive the frost and you’ve got yourself a bug hotel. This is a great activity to get kids involved in – especially if you pony up for a magnifying glass and an insect identification guide, too.

Try something fresh
This is the perfect time of year to rekindle your love affair with your local farmers’ market. Yes, it’s been a long winter of potatoes, cabbage and turnips, but now is the time to get back to visiting weekly to pick up local greens, fiddleheads, fresh rhubarb, the first asparagus and other long-awaited produce. This year’s strawberries are just around the corner! And if you’re a farmers’ market die-hard who has kept up your trips all winter, maybe now is the time to try a new-to-you food – baby turnips or kohlrabi, anyone?

Get cooking
As new crops grace the tables at the market, it’s time to freshen up dinner with a few new recipes. Take a trip to the library for a new-to-you cookbook to find some inspiration. You could plan a whole meal or just choose one recipe to try. In keeping with what’s available at the farmers’ market right now, here are a few ideas: rhubarb custard squares, “snacky” asparagus and spring greens salads.

Go exploring
After a long, cold winter, nothing beats getting outside and stretching your legs. If you’re not one of the thousands of people participating in the Blue Nose Marathon in Halifax (including the Doctors Nova Scotia Youth Run!), you’re sure to find something interesting to do elsewhere. Check out what’s going on at a Parks Canada National Historic site or Nova Scotia Museum property near you, visit a local (or not-so-local) provincial park or stay close to home and enjoy a neighbourhood scavenger hunt or a backyard campout. As always, stay safe: take sunscreen, be tick-aware, and keep an eye on local fire restrictions

Want more information on healthy living and health-care delivery sent directly to your inbox? Subscribe to our newsletter to get all of our content first!