Upon entering the Chesapeake employee gardens for the first time 21/2 years ago, local grower Jenn Mabry looked around, made an initial assessment of how much work lay ahead, then sat down and cried.

“All that was here was sunflowers, dill and a lot of weeds,” Mabry said.

Fast forward to the present, and that same patch of prairie teetering on blight is now a bustling community garden boasting more than 60 raised beds that provide thousands of pounds of fresh produce for charity.

When Chesapeake Energy Corp. began belt-tightening measures several years ago, the lauded employee garden and its dedicated staff were among the first to go. That caught the attention of Frank McDonald, president of TLC Garden Centers.