Guerilla Gardening project: Restoring the soil of a local park?

First of all: I am completely aware of all the risks and potential legal consequences involved with guerilla gardening and am willing to undertake those risks.

To that end, I am wondering if there are ways to restore the health of soil on public land when the usual methods (mulch, cover crops, NOT raking up leaves, ect.) obviously aren't available. The park is meticulously raked and weeded, so the ground never has any cover and never gets fed, and you can see the results of the harsh treatment. It's a total dust bowl. The poor grass there has been dead for years, the ground is packed hard, the fruit and nut trees have smaller and smaller yields every year.

There are 20 beautiful native persimmon trees there that I loved to gather from before the effects of the poor land management really started setting in. This year, I barely managed to grab 20 persimmons, although part of that is due to the squirrels of course. Still, those branches used to be absolutely laden.

I have no idea where to begin, but I would love to help the trees and restore the soil in some way. Would compost tea be useful, since it could be poured without leaving behind much visible evidence?

All thoughts and ideas appreciated. I want my bushels of persimmons back.

Interesting dilemma.

It would probably be ,more practical for you to plant a new grove of trees elsewhere, but I can see why you would want to help your tree friends.

If you were to add carefully manicured circle of mulch around each tree,  the maintenance crew might think it belongs.
That would protect the soil and help with infiltration.
After that, you could feed the trees with aerobic or anaerobic compost teas, and spike the mulch with fungal spores.

You could dig pits along the drip line, and cap them with flat stones.
Adding compostables to the pits could feed the tree.

If you are crazy ambitious, you might even use a mulching mower on the leaves and grass, before the grounds keepers could get to it.
If the grounds keeping crew are contractors, you might be able to underbid them.
If they are public employees, you might be able to bribe them...

As William said, if you really feel the need to do this, you could put a large ring of compost around as many trees as you could manage, and then cover that large ring with ramial wood chips as deep as possible.  I wouldn't think anyone working in the park would destroy that.  More likely they would assume another worker did it.  You could also bore holes with a post hole digger or similar in a rough circle around the trees (or just some of them) and fill them with compost.  Even if the park employees ran the mower over your dust bowl, it wouldn't disrupt the compost-filled holes, and there would be long term benefits, just as there would be with the other method.  The holes would show as much and would be much less intrusive looking.

If this was something I wanted to do, I would get started on the persimmon trees.  I would start with compost tea.

Every now and then I would bring a container of compost tea to pour around the trees.

I would start spending more time in the park and get to know the person who does the maintenance in that area of the park.

I would ask that employee if I could bring some wood chips to put at the base of the trees.  Maybe explain that way they would not have to weed-eat there.

I would watch how the mowing is done around those trees.  Putting mulch or woodchips where those will just get sucked up by the mower is a waste of time.

To me, this sounds like a lovely and worthwhile project.

William Bronson wrote:Interesting dilemma.

It would probably be ,more practical for you to plant a new grove of trees elsewhere, but I can see why you would want to help your tree friends.

If you were to add carefully manicured circle of mulch around each tree,  the maintenance crew might think it belongs.
That would protect the soil and help with infiltration.
After that, you could feed the trees with aerobic or anaerobic compost teas, and spike the mulch with fungal spores.

You could dig pits along the drip line, and cap them with flat stones.
Adding compostables to the pits could feed the tree.

If you are crazy ambitious, you might even use a mulching mower on the leaves and grass, before the grounds keepers could get to it.
If the grounds keeping crew are contractors, you might be able to underbid them.
If they are public employees, you might be able to bribe them...

I did scoop up as many seeds as possible to begin growing more elsewhere, although I'll only see the results of that in about a decade!

Setting up some rings around the trees might not take long at all, if I'm quick about it. That's a very good idea. :) I could try that and then, if they do indeed get torn down, move on to the compost holes as you and Trace both mentioned. They would be near invisible to any workers.

I will definitely look into whether the park is maintained by contractors or public employees. I didn't even think of that. Thank you!

Trace Oswald wrote:As William said, if you really feel the need to do this, you could put a large ring of compost around as many trees as you could manage, and then cover that large ring with ramial wood chips as deep as possible.  I wouldn't think anyone working in the park would destroy that.  More likely they would assume another worker did it.  You could also bore holes with a post hole digger or similar in a rough circle around the trees (or just some of them) and fill them with compost.  Even if the park employees ran the mower over your dust bowl, it wouldn't disrupt the compost-filled holes, and there would be long term benefits, just as there would be with the other method.  The holes would show as much and would be much less intrusive looking.

This is a great idea. I could go and have a "picnic" between the trees one day and make the holes while I'm there. Doubt anyone would look twice if it looks like I'm just there for lunch.

Anne Miller wrote:If this was something I wanted to do, I would get started on the persimmon trees.  I would start with compost tea.

Every now and then I would bring a container of compost tea to pour around the trees.

I would start spending more time in the park and get to know the person who does the maintenance in that area of the park.

I would ask that employee if I could bring some wood chips to put at the base of the trees.  Maybe explain that way they would not have to weed-eat there.

I would watch how the mowing is done around those trees.  Putting mulch or woodchips where those will just get sucked up by the mower is a waste of time.

To me, this sounds like a lovely and worthwhile project.

I'm glad for the encouragement! I didn't think about just asking the employees if they'd like for them to be mulched, haha. I'll try and get in contact with the park workers somehow.

In our town, we started/ran a natural food co-op, barter group, recycling center, babysitting group, and more. In nearby Cleveland we started 5 public organic gardens. In most of that, we consulted with the local Township, City & Village gov'ts. We organized. We attended meetings. We explained in detail. We won agreement. ~~In my experience, guerilla gardening on public lands is completely un-necessary. And going to low level employees is not helpful or productive. What I would do, what I have done, is go explain to those folks who are either elected or placed in charge of your park and show them the great reasons for what you want to do. Then start small on a smaller area, prove how you have a better way. Rally the public to your side. Get media exposure. Then cover more ground each year. Doing the right thing in silence or by stealth doesn't really convince anyone of the truth of a better way. Show them. Convince them. Show everyone that organics and permaculture is the best way to go.

Jim Fry wrote:In our town, we started/ran a natural food co-op, barter group, recycling center, babysitting group, and more. In nearby Cleveland we started 5 public organic gardens. In most of that, we consulted with the local Township, City & Village gov'ts. We organized. We attended meetings. We explained in detail. We won agreement. ~~In my experience, guerilla gardening on public lands is completely un-necessary. And going to low level employees is not helpful or productive. What I would do, what I have done, is go explain to those folks who are either elected or placed in charge of your park and show them the great reasons for what you want to do. Then start small on a smaller area, prove how you have a better way. Rally the public to your side. Get media exposure. Then cover more ground each year. Doing the right thing in silence or by stealth doesn't really convince anyone of the truth of a better way. Show them. Convince them. Show everyone that organics and permaculture is the best way to go.

It's always encouraging to hear such successful stories and ideas. I'm glad you live in a such a receptive area! People here are apathetic when it comes to any cause they deem too "tree-hugger"-iish. I'll keep trying of course! But, I won't wait to get started. Education and change is my long term goal, but I'm alright taking stealthier steps until then.

Hi Jane,

You don’t say the size of the park or the size of the community.   I witnessed a similar situation the late 70s.   This was in a community of 18000 and a small …1 city block park.   The individual formed an appropriately named club ….such as The Smallville Gardening Club….then they volunteered, at a public city counsel meeting, to take over the care of the park at no cost to the city.

If I was going to go to the parks department, rather than just take the guerilla approach, I'd ask if there was a way I could adopt a tree or small grove, and become some kind of semi-official caretaker. That sounds like the kind of program that would be popular and not cost the city anything. Offer to provide a management plan detailing what you're going to do and what you still expect the city to do.

(ETA: cross-posted with John just above with similar idea.)

Christopher Weeks wrote:If I was going to go to the parks department, rather than just take the guerilla approach, I'd ask if there was a way I could adopt a tree or small grove, and become some kind of semi-official caretaker. That sounds like the kind of program that would be popular and not cost the city anything. Offer to provide a management plan detailing what you're going to do and what you still expect the city to do.

(ETA: cross-posted with John just above with similar idea.)

I really like this idea.

I have worked in parks as a paid employee and a volunteer, at state, national, and forest service parks.

Contacting the Park Manager and asking if you can volunteer will be something that the Park Manager would be receptive to.

Also, most parks also have "Friends" which is a group of folks who get together to help the park out.

Christopher Weeks wrote:If I was going to go to the parks department, rather than just take the guerilla approach, I'd ask if there was a way I could adopt a tree or small grove, and become some kind of semi-official caretaker. That sounds like the kind of program that would be popular and not cost the city anything. Offer to provide a management plan detailing what you're going to do and what you still expect the city to do.

(ETA: cross-posted with John just above with similar idea.)

As I mentioned above, I'm happy to gather the community to support me and make organized efforts in the long run, but I'm looking for things I can do until I have that support :)

Anne Miller wrote:

Christopher Weeks wrote:If I was going to go to the parks department, rather than just take the guerilla approach, I'd ask if there was a way I could adopt a tree or small grove, and become some kind of semi-official caretaker. That sounds like the kind of program that would be popular and not cost the city anything. Offer to provide a management plan detailing what you're going to do and what you still expect the city to do.

(ETA: cross-posted with John just above with similar idea.)

I really like this idea.

I have worked in parks as a paid employee and a volunteer, at state, national, and forest service parks.

Contacting the Park Manager and asking if you can volunteer will be something that the Park Manager would be receptive to.

Also, most parks also have "Friends" which is a group of folks who get together to help the park out.

That's great to know that this is an option!

The reason for my tendency to default to the guerilla approach is that my home has always had a very careless local gov. Current example: one of the parks allowing a family's animals to run free, causing accidents with vehicles and disturbing or fighting wild geese, because the family is old money. The wildlife rehab near the park + animal control get near constant calls about them and it never does anything. That's more to do with money than anything of course, so it probably wouldn't affect my asking to volunteer, but it shows you the kind of people that I'm dealing with/where my mindset comes from. "Care for the environment" isn't a big concern here :(

If I wanted to improve the trees growing in the park I would add some appropriate grass seed in the area around the tree and then cover it with an inch of fine compost or mushroom compost. i wouldn't do any digging as it could be viewed as damaging the roots. If I couldn't do all the trees I'd hang a sign in one or more trees letting people know why the trees look better and why there's a ring of lush green grass around some trees. i wouldn't sow a lot of seed, just enough that it's visible.

And the most wood chips I'd ring the trees with is maybe 18". Just enough to keep the mowers and weed wackers away from the tree.

edit: link I didn't add??

Lots of good ideas! Agree on compost tea, compost/mulch around trees, and especially more observation of the maintenance crew...

Another thing to seed might be clover.

You could try wearing lawn aerating spike shoes and walk around the park (it's like an overshoe that straps on, more like a sandal, oversandals?).
You might pass it off as some fitness fad to answer busybodies asking about it, maybe mention how you are a bit unsteady in them, and they best keep their distance...