Community garden is a labour of love

Heather Doheny loves to garden.

If the national Communities in Bloom award she won for her container garden last year isn’t proof enough, then the big smile she wears on her face as she works is surely a sign.

“It’s a genetic thing,” Doheny laughed. “My mother was a very avid gardener here in Kelowna and so I grew up around that and started gardening when I was five—I can’t help (loving) it.”

It wasn’t long after Doheny and her husband downsized from a single family home to a town house in Rose Valley, that she realized she wanted to get back to one of her favourite pastimes.

While her container garden was successful last year, it wasn’t quite enough to fill the void.

“We definitely missed it,” said Doheny. So Doheny was ecstatic when she read in the newspaper last fall that a community garden would be up and running by spring at the Westbank Town Centre Community Park off Hebert Road.

Doheny and her husband Dave now make a daily trip from Rose Valley to Westbank to soak up the gardening experience once more.

“I love the community garden concept and I think we’ll see more of it,” Doheny stated. “Probably now, with the change in the economy, people are thinking (they) should be getting back to growing a few more of their own things.”

Speaking of the poor economy, Doheny said she has taken two plots at the community garden, so she can donate some of the fruits of her labour come harvest time.

“We will grow tomatoes and the cucumbers and some of the larger things and take them to the food bank,” she said.

Education will be another seed Doheny expects to sow through her community garden experience.

“With the container garden last year, I had good success growing in containers (but) I wanted to experiment with a few more things,” said Doheny, who completed a master gardener’s course this year.

“So there’s a huge impetus there to learn as much as possible and be able to advise (others).”

Through the Master Gardeners of B.C., Doheny said she hopes to do clinics at various locations in the community where she can offer gardening tips.

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