Guerilla Gardening: A Basic Guide

Step 4 Enjoy and protect your tree

Since this isn't my land I will have to take some measures to protect my tree. Eventually I will put some mulch around it and maybe a little stonework. For right now I will just be watering it and keeping the grass cut low until I am positive the city workers will mow around instead of over the poor little thing.

Comments

[nubie]

Is the land technically unused if it has a fence and regular mowing? If the purpose is to be anti-social (either with or without justification or as retaliation), I understand. But if the purpose is just to place the tree/other plant, what harm could there be talking to the caretaker of the land? Perhaps even if "other people" have final say the caretaker would be willing to work with you, or vice versa. I may be highly pacificistic here, but I don't really get the point unless the point is contention.

[xfirexstarzx]

I'm with you on this one. I want to know what the point is if the land is maintained. Usually fences are put up to keep people or animals out... or in. Why was there a fence around the field? Did you think about what the land owner would think about it? If you were trying to tick them off, you probably went about it well, but if you were trying to be nice to the community, I think you might need to plan ahead a little more. I work on a farm to make a living. If someone went around planting trees in each of my hay fields (which an uneducated person might just see as a grassy field), that would really tick me off. Actually, I might press legal charges if I could find the person. I'm not saying this is a bad idea if you have the right spot (in the yard of an abandoned house, in a brush lot, etc.), but if you do this where the owner will find out (fields, ball fields, somebody's well manicured lawn, etc) be prepared to be prosecuted. I don't think many land owners/ maintenance workers would take too kindly to this.

[reedz]

I believe everyone is taking this much too seriously, the fence is along the back side of the field so people don't wander into the river which is another 10 feet behind it. This field is absolutely literally unused, there is no reason whatsoever for it to be mowed. It's owned by my city and they are just sitting on it to be able to control what is built upon it, meaning, nothing will ever has been nor will be built on this land since the 1970's. And if you are so genuinely concerned about hurting someone's pride in their horribly rocky and unkempt field, the tree is gone.

[boxofscorpions]

I think strawberries are a good idea, they soon take over a small area with via the runners they produce and feed a whole manner of wildlife, not to mention us humans. I live in a council estate and have been tempted to plant a few of my garden strawberries in the beds that surround besits and bungalows, which are often littered with rubbish or weeds.

[Land Shark]

I am glad there are other guerrilla gardeners out there, but what you are doing isn't productive. First of all that field looks maintained. The best guerrilla gardening locations are areas that are not being regularly maintained. For example green belts, the park perimeter (not the mowed open fields), cul de sacs, powerline corridors, rail corridors, undevelopable hillsides, etc. Secondly, you shouldn't transplant trees or bushes unless it is their dormant season. Late winter, early spring is when you should do the transplanting in most regions. Instead of focusing on trees, focus on edible landscape. That way you, the local animal population, and your neighbors can directly benefit from your work. One of my favorite guerrilla gardening tricks is to take cuttings from a Currant bush and stick them in the ground in November. The next spring, each Currant stick you put in the ground will become a new bush. Another thing I like to do is buy bare root plants from the mega home centers (Lowe's) late in the season when they are dirt cheap. I bought a bunch of blueberry bushes at $2 a pop and planted them on an unmaintained hillside at a nearby park. The best spots for guerrilla gardening are areas overrun with weeds and invasive non-native plant species. If you get caught, just tell them you are doing invasive plant removal.

[dooDIY4T7]

I like the idea. Just i think you should do the stonework soon to help make sure they dont mow over the tree! You might want to check out a thing called operation ivy. It's where you plant ivy and vine plants in abandoned areas of citys and then eventually they grow and overtake the buildings without being noticed.

[Gorfram]

Noooooo! Not if it's the evergreen English Ivy, hedera helix!

Deciduous ivies like Boston Ivy and Virginia Creeper are okay; but the evergreen English Ivy is super-invasive, eventually swamping and strangling trees and whole forests. If left untrimmed for 5-6 years, it "fruits" with evil-looking poisonous berries, which don't kill the birds that eat them until after they've passed through the bird's system and been deposited elsewhere, further spreading the Ivy Menace. Worst of all, it can live just about forever.

Don't plant English Ivy! Anywhere. Ever. Please.

[raskolnikov]

I have been trying to think through some guerilla gardening "attacks" for my neighborhood as well. I hadn't thought of digging up a wild tree and moving it. I like the idea of cutting out any expenses that way, but I'm not sure I would want to disturb any naturally-growing plants as long as they aren't exotic and invasive.

[reedz]

Yeah I know what you mean, I am actually planning a big project for this spring to plant a small garden in the same field. Tomoatoes and cucumber will probably fill it up quickly.

[Tarps]

How has the tree handled being transplanted?

[reedz]

It's actually been cut down, it was too small to survive the tractors.

[gapspider]

I share your feelings about unused land, but that tree is doomed when some days ago it was growing free in some other place.