506_yard

Jeff Green | Jun 04, 2009

Gaylene Kellar, owner of 506 Yard & Garden Centre

A few weeks ago it was a more or less vacant lot, but with a bit of an investment and a lot of hard work Gaylene Kellar has transformed the property into the 506 Yard & Garden Centre - a full service garden and landscaping centre with trees, landscaping materials, and varieties of flagstone lying out in a large yard; a large greenhouse chock full of annual and perennial bedding plants for vegetable and flower gardens; and plans for a pick-your-own organic garden moving forward quickly.

“I started on April 1, and at first I thought I would get ready for next year, but then I decided to push and try to open before Victoria Day Weekend,” said Gaylene when interviewed earlier this week on a cold and rainy day.

“I think this is the first quiet day since I opened the garden centre,” Gaylene said as she was doing maintenance on some wax begonia plants in the greenhouse. “The response has really been overwhelming. People seem really happy to be able to get landscaping materials, soils, trees, everything locally.”

For Gaylene Kellar the new business is a chance to move back home, and an opportunity to make a career change. She has been working as a nurse, but she prefers working out of doors, without having to travel back and forth every day.

“This kind of work is great for me,” she said, “I get to talk to people, and help them with their garden projects, which always makes them feel good.”

Because the business just started this spring, Gaylene was unable to grow all the plants that she is selling out of her green house, but with the greenhouse now in place, next year she plans to start everything herself in the early spring, and have garlic and berries available for local stores as well as the general public.

But all of these plans are in the future. For now, Gaylene is busy working all day in the garden centre, then delivering bulk material orders in the early evenings, then getting ready for the next day.

“It's been a real rush so far, but I've been enjoying myself,” she said.

506 Yard & Garden Centre is located at 1319 Hwy 506, 1.5km east of Hwy 41. It is open 7 days a week from 8am – 4pm or by appointment. Tel: 613-336-0772.