Sidewalk Gardening

Improve your block and meet your neighbors by installing a sidewalk garden with Friends of the Urban Forest! Sidewalk gardens beautify neighborhoods, build community, create pollinator habitat, reduce storm-water runoff and, when planted around street trees, they increase the lifespan of the trees (see more benefits here).

FUF coordinates community-based sidewalk garden projects throughout San Francisco. Our sidewalk garden installations cover a small area — usually one or two blocks — and they occur over three days, ending with a community planting including volunteers, neighbors, and FUF staff.

 

When FUF manages a sidewalk garden project, we do all this:

FUF Responsibility	Homeowner Responsibility
Secures funding to subsidize much of the project costs	Attend a community meeting with other neighbors to kick-off the project
Acts as a liaison to DPW, meeting with an inspector to review each garden and ensure that each garden follows city regulations	Maintain your garden after the installation is complete
Completes and submits all permits	Cover any applicable permit fee and small co-pay to FUF ($200 – $600)
Manages all concrete removal, hardscape installation and delivery of materials including compost, mulch, plants and trees	​
Manages all volunteer coordination, garden design and installation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Eligibility for FUF Sidewalk Gardens

In order to be eligible for a FUF sidewalk garden you must meet all of the following requirements:

• Concrete removal. We are only funded to plant gardens in newly opened garden basins, not existing ones.
• Minimum 10 ft sidewalk and/or paved front yard. This is to ensure that we meet permit and accessibility requirements.
• FUF installs community-based sidewalk garden projects, transforming an entire block, meaning that we must have multiple properties on the block interested in participating. We do not work on single properties. 

Organize sidewalk gardens on your block

The quickest and best way to get a project started on your block is to become your neighborhood’s Block Captain.  We rely on Block Captains and outreach volunteers to get the word out and encourage other property owners to participate in the project. A Block Captain assists FUF with organizing a sidewalk garden project by being the link to the community and the “boots on the street.” 

Organizing tasks include: 

• Promoting FUF sidewalk gardens by canvassing, flyering, talking to neighbors, posting on NextDoor, etc.
• Distributing information and forms to properties on the block
• Assisting with scheduling the community meeting and helping with project logistics
• FUF provides canvassing materials to distribute and can suggest methods for successfully organizing. 

If you are interested in learning more or becoming a Block Captain please contact us directly at gardens@fuf.net

Take the next step!

If you’d like a sidewalk garden, please fill out a Sidewalk Garden Interest Form.

Questions? Contact us by email at gardens@fuf.net

Interested in volunteering to plant sidewalk gardens? See our Volunteer page to find out how you can help.