Carol Allen said she is amazed at the people and business that have come forward to help convert an empty field into an expansion for the Community Gardens on Vancouver Avenue.
When the City of Penticton gave the Community Gardens Society permission to expand into the grassy area below the existing gardens, she feared it might take up to $20,000 to develop the area. However, she soon found people coming forward to help out.
“The amazing thing to me is that through the generosity of local businesses, we are going to have that garden up and running for zero dollars,” said Allen, who said they have had donations of both materials and labour.
Carl Chretien has been a key player, Allen said, doing all the earthwork to level the property, including building a rock wall.
“Carl spent two whole days nicely moving all these rocks the city donated to create a retaining wall where there was a change in the level,” said Allen.
He also did all the trenching work for the irrigation system which needed to be brought from the top of the existing property down to the new site. And then, Allen continued, Grower’s Supply came forward to supply not only the necessary materials for the irrigation system, but the services of a staff member to install it.
The list of helpful business and individuals is a long one, including Structurlam Products, who supplied the boards for the garden boxes that are currently under construction at the site.
“I hate to guess at what the value for that would be, but really staggeringly significant,” said Allen. “It’s absolutely amazing how generous people have been.”
The expanded community gardens will be about twice the size of the current one, adding 27 new plots to the 26 current ones. Allen said the expansion was badly needed.
“The thing is that most of these gardens will be filled with our waiting list. There is some seven to 10 gardens left,” she said, adding that they need to get them finished by spring so people can get to work in them.
“If we plan for March, that wouldn’t be unrealistic. We’ve also been blessed with an incredibly warm winter,” she said.
Allen said that anyone wanting to get on the list for one of the remaining garden plots can contact her at 250-496-5226.