Nov 8: UC Berkeley Stewardship and Thank you Schleifer Donors!

UC Berkeley students lent 38 hands to Gateway Emergency Demonstration Garden last Saturday, Nov 8! 19 students cleared a lot of flammable dense brush adjacent to the frame structure, and patiently pulled weeds out of the granite plaza and stone paths. They also planted several dozen daffodils donated by KOB! (Keep Oakland Beautiful) Thank you […]

Rock Star….JD Van der Werf!

Last Saturday, Oct 25, is was a rainy morn…..as predicted, started at 9.  Since Fred was away, JD arrived at “Fred time” 8:30AM and had already picked up this much trash by the time I arrived!!  We called the rest of our fabulous volunteers off but went ahead and planted about 30 iris blubs that […]

Fabulous workday with the UC Project Day leaders!

The Gateway Demonstration Exhibit Garden benefited from an energetic Cal group!!   On Sat Oct 4, we had 17 Cal students, and they worked hard!!!  They painted the graffitied irrigation box, deck posts and painted out graffiti on the understory of the deck.  Other students hammered in the heads of hundreds of popped nail heads on […]

Firestorm Memorial Garden Cleaning

On Sat September 27, our intrepid NHCA garden volunteers cleaned up the Firestorm Memorial Garden.   Donna got the great idea to cut down a clump of very tall, 20’+ Euc suckers which were blocking the directional highway signs.  So attack we did! Pic #1     Before our work, you can verify our location with the bike […]

Meet Our Garden Beautification Crew

This is Peggy Mooney, our steady octogenarian volunteer. She specializes in path restoration. Every little weed is out, every tiny chard of glass, gone. Rocks all together and mulch separated. Here are most of us! To our delight Donna has joined our merry crew. On the left is Geri and her husband Kevin with the […]

new volunteer partner

NHCA is delighted to share the news that Boys Team Charity has volunteered to work in the gardens on August 9th and 23rd. https://www.boysteamcharity.org

Firestorm Memorial Garden – Party!

NHCA had a very successful work party at the Firestorm Memorial Garden yesterday, Sat. July 12.  Six of us worked hard to beautify the garden…remove dead plants and branches and pick up lots of trash along Hiller and Tunnel roads.  It looks 100% better! Both Fred Booker and David Kessler wrote CalTrans to remove the […]

Very Successful Garden Party Clean-Up Sat. June 28, 2025

We had a great day on Sat June 28. With 10 volunteers, we got a lot accomplished. Over thirteen 30 GA bags of weeds and pruned material were collected. The entry was spruced up. Fred Booker continues to water his 5 buckeyes that were planted across the street from our main garden at Gateway. Earlier […]

June 11, 2025: The GOATS are back and GRAZING!

We welcome these weed eaters on the steep slopes on the Southern slope across from the Gateway Demonstration Pavilion Garden.  You can see they are behind the electric fence which keeps them from eating the aloes and other plants that Gordon Piper planted years ago.   They are also munching away below Hiller Highlands V.

Chevron Community Volunteer Day, April 17th,  9-12pm

On Monday April 17, the NHCA Garden Committee hosted seven volunteers from Chevron to do some heavy lifting.  Numerous shrubs were removed from under the olive canopies and massive amounts of weeds were removed.  A delicious lunch from Zachary’s was provided courtesy of Andrea Gordon, Realtor.   Our Spring clean-up Garden Work Party days are in […]

Garden Work Party at Gateway

On a beautiful Saturday, Feb 22, 8 of us gathered 16 bags of green waste and 2 large bags of trash and recyclables.  Come join us in the festivities and breathe the beautiful fresh air.  Spoiler alert:  We saw two lovely spotted towhees very busily pecking for seeds! Quite a thrill!  

Garden News!

We resume our bi monthly weeding and beautification at the Gateway garden and demonstration pavilion. Old Tunnel Road and Caldecott the second and fourth Saturdays of the month! For January, the dates are January 11th and 25th. We have tools, gloves, and green waste bags and water! Bring your thermos. Do you come join us, […]

Successful UC Berkeley Project Day, Gateway Garden, Nov.2,2024

Another very successful day, clearing out overgrown and crowded plants around the olive trees. We also cleaned out weeds along the granite “rivers”. We collected 39 bags of green debris! A big thank you to Andrea Gordon, Realtor and Star Grocery for providing lunch snacks drinks, and goodies! Thank you too, to our shuttle drivers: […]

Mulch party at Gateway with Chevron

A group of 10 from Chevron +4 from NHCA had a successful mulch party at Gateway on Thursday, September 25. Fred Booker got mulch from Peter Rudy Big chief tree. The worker bees spread it around three sides of the pavilion so it is now in compliance with 10 feet of clearance from the structure. […]