It’s never to early to start planning for gardening season. Diehard gardeners, as well as some hobby gardeners alike, start planning for the following season as soon as they finish planting the last seeds of the current season. The new Cheryl L. Reinert Memorial Community Garden in Great Bend is going to be a place where both of those groups can come to grow together.
Since 2022 the Barton County Conservation District, in conjunction with the Barton County Master Gardeners group, has helped facilitate a community Victory Garden at the Barton County Historical Society just south of Great Bend. Featuring a large group garden as well as raised beds, which were popular for growers who would rather not crawl in the dirt, the Victory garden was a place to learn, share ideas and maintain food security following years of instability related to COVID-19.
After three seasons of successful gardening, the fall of 2022 was the first prep year, the community garden has found a new home inside Great Bend city limits, BCCD District Manager Veronica Coons explained, who is also a community garden leader.
“We had a lot of success at the historical society and it helped us reach several different groups like CORE Community and some students at Barton Academy,” Coons said.
Honoring Reinert
As with any garden season, the last three at the historical society weren’t without challenges and, ultimately, many gardeners who utilized the community growing space acknowledged that it would be nice to have an area in town to help make participation more convenient.
After many conversations, the conservation district and Master Gardeners were able to find a suitable site.
“We ended up reaching out to Larry and Marilyn Kopke and asked about a property that they own in town,” Coons said. “We got together and visited with them and they were enthusiastic about our plans.”
The new site will be at 17th and Stone St. and will be named in honor of the Kopke’s daughter, Cheryl L. Reinert, who passed away in April.
The community space will feature a vegetable garden and herb beds, and also a pollinator garden. Cheryl was an avid gardener, flower lover and nature lover, and the Kopkes felt this would be a very nice memorial for her, and as well as a benefit to the community, Coons explained.
Comments are closed.