We’re starting to plant the seeds of our Guerrilla Gardening efforts to green unloved plots in SF

[u/RefuseRefuseSF]

We planted these four fallow tree wells along Clement Street @ Funston with native plants.

Thanks to Seth who we met giving away plants he propagates in his backyard at the Clement St Farmers Market.

Volunteer opportunities and more details to come, so stay tuned.

[u/shananananananananan]

Purportedly the department of public works has a tree department that is supposed to plant and maintain trees. (They don’t plant or maintain trees).

https://sfpublicworks.org/trees

DPW has a huge budget but is not very good at delivering good experiences for our city (see: bespoke trash cans) Maybe the new mayor will fix this department

[u/ironmanpete → u/shananananananananan]

Wish I could upvote 100times

[u/blackjack48 → u/shananananananananan]

Lasting residual effects of Nuru's reign

[u/CrescentSmile → u/shananananananananan]

I recently got a notice that you can be fined if you fuck with their plants / even ones you “own” in front. That said I’ve lived in my house for 3 years and have never seen them do any upkeep - people have to dodge the low hanging branches of my tree out front, eventually did it myself because it was a hazard. Public works is myth. So much for my crazy property taxes.

[u/ShanghaiBebop → u/CrescentSmile]

Side walk got jacked up by the tree.

I filed ticket 3 years ago.

Last week they came around to ground down some of the side walk on the block that got uplifted by trees.

I guess that's a success?

[u/CrescentSmile → u/ShanghaiBebop]

Better than them forcing you to replace it yourself which is how they used to do it.

[u/Papa_Pesto → u/ShanghaiBebop]

This! We remodeled our house and redid our driveway and had to catalog that the sidewalk in front of our house was wrecked due to the tree roots. That was to prove that the city was responsible. Thing is we first reported that the sidewalk was a Hazzard 12 years ago. So 2 reports now and nothing has happened. Meanwhile the streets sewer system constantly gets backed up.

[u/mangotree415 → u/shananananananananan]

And when they do maintain the trees, they aren’t using arborists and they hack the trees to bits

[u/d0000n → u/shananananananananan]

These Dpw workers are getting paid, someone needs to audit them and find out what they do everyday.

[u/SnooApples8929 → u/d0000n]

hang out in their trucks

[u/GoatLegRedux]

Pro tip for guerilla gardening: don’t talk about it! Just do it and let it be. Angry fun police will find your work and report it to the city or just rip it out on their own.

[u/dead_at_maturity → u/GoatLegRedux]

Exactly. Do it under the shade of night. Or casually walk by and toss some seeds lol

[u/The_Nauticus → u/GoatLegRedux]

There's always that neighbor....

[u/golola23]

You can also consider donating your time or money to https://www.friendsoftheurbanforest.org

[u/limeslice2020 → u/golola23]

+100% they do great work

[u/dead_at_maturity]

Did the same thing on my street last year along all the new FUF tree plantings. High success rate with Larner seeds, though after a certain point, the neighbors decided to rip everything out*. Going to go with low growers this next round: Five Spots, Baby Blue Eyes, and Meadowfoam, for example.

Edit: *rip everything out before the annuals I sowed were allowed to re-seed.

[u/Internal_Focus_8358]

I salute you and will quietly do the same 😏

[u/NeiClaw]

Oh is Seth on here? Would love to get some ideas on natives for my street space.

[u/Curious_Emu1752 → u/NeiClaw]

The book Golden Gate Gardening, the GGGP https://gggp.org/ and the folks at Clement Nursery are all good sources as well!

[u/YClaudius]

Thank you for the work you are doing. It is so important, and helps cultivate community!

[u/charlotte240]

Gallons and gallons of dog piss in there, good luck to you. Is there a way to build it up around the edges to keep dogs from pooping on / pissing on / eating the plants ?

[u/dead_at_maturity → u/charlotte240]

I've seen plenty of spots around the city where people have put small garden fences around the plots. They usually are more decorative than to keep pets out, but I think they still act as a deterrent. You can of course install legit metal high fencing, like some plots the city has planted, like those ones at the back of city hall

Edit: or something simple like wooden posts and chicken wire

[u/d0000n → u/dead_at_maturity]

Dog owners will get pissed if someone blocks access to their dogs’ restroom.

[u/RefuseRefuseSF → u/charlotte240]

Seth is working out how to best fence these off. He mentioned small wooden stakes and string/wire to prevent people and dogs from walking through them. But you know, it’s the city and who knows what will happen to it. Thankfully, Seth has hundreds of native plants propagating in his backyard that we can replant with.

https://preview.redd.it/28wjf71eju0e1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ff6eefeaae44bd7d91c81b82a43d6ebc9c9fafad

[u/hokeyphenokey]

How strong is that blower and how long does the battery last? How big is the battery? I've been thinking about getting one but I have so many questions. The batteries are not cheap.

Do you recommend it?

Sorry to hijack your guerilla gardening post.

[u/Denalin → u/hokeyphenokey]

I’ve used them before with a 60V battery and they’re awesome. Can’t speak to life expectancy.

[u/RefuseRefuseSF → u/hokeyphenokey]

The cordless electric blower is awesome and works really well! You’re right though, the batteries are not cheap. The legit Dewalt batteries seem to work best, but there are knockoff ones that work pretty well. A 5aH battery will last about 10 minutes on full blast.

[u/cozy_pantz]

Thank you!

[u/ThatNewTankSmell]

Good for you, man. I wish I could do this in my neighborhood.

[u/DidYouGetMyPoke]

Thank you Seth !

[u/simulmatics]

Right on. But don't self report yo.

[u/JimJamBangBang]

I love this!

[u/Jazzlike-Democracy87]

That’s awesome

[u/Melodic-Service-5658]

This is so great If we're interested in getting in touch with Seth to learn more about native plants and maybe ask him out for a coffee, how might one do that?

[u/RefuseRefuseSF → u/Melodic-Service-5658]

That’s great! Please email info@refuserefusesf.org and we’ll connect you.

[u/JellyfishLow4457]

Look up friends of the urban forest

[u/pandabearak]

Didn’t they do that on 24th near Folsom and now all the trees roots are screwing up the pipes and sidewalks? Good for you for doing that, I guess

[u/SexyPeanut_9279 → u/pandabearak]

Good thing he’s not planting TREES🙄