Summer park maintenance in full swing

Summer is almost here, and parks maintenance activities are now in full swing for the more than 2,130 hectares of parks, sport fields, naturalized areas and other open spaces throughout Saskatoon. These spaces are diverse and require a range of care and management techniques.

Some of the main park maintenance service levels in the spring and summer months include:

Mowing

• During the regular mowing season (May 15 to September 15) irrigated parks are mowed once per week while non-irrigated parks are mowed once every two weeks.
• Contracted services provide litter picks and mowing cycles to over 400 hectares of Circle Drive and other major freeway corridors and landscape areas.

Waste Collection

• Emptying of garbage receptacles in parks occurs at minimum once per week from May 15 to October 15.
• Litter control is ongoing in all naturalized park areas and along Circle Drive and other major freeways.

Shrub Beds and Flower Pots 

• Shrub bed maintenance occurs from May 15 to September 15.
• Planting flowers in over 100 park beds and distributing 1,000 flower pots to Business Improvement Districts and major centre medians.  

Irrigation

• Sport fields receive irrigation application services at 38mm of water per week.
• General park areas and neighbourhood fields begin to receive irrigation application services where available at 25mm of water per week.

Weed Control

• Herbicides have not been used since 2004 to control broadleaf weeds, such as dandelions, on park turf and sports fields. Instead, Parks uses established cultural turf practices (i.e., mowing, fertilizing and irrigation where available) to improve the condition of turf areas. Aeration and topdressing are also applied to sports fields.
• Only when necessary, provincially licensed and trained Parks staff apply spot applications of herbicide to eliminate weeds in shrub beds, tree wells, and on hard surfaces such as asphalt pathways and concrete medians. Herbicides are also used to control noxious and prohibited weeds. Warning signs are placed in areas of herbicide application.

For a full list of park maintenance service levels, visit saskatoon.ca/parkmaintenance.