NHCA Gardens!
We have had a busy year in our two community gardens, the Gateway Emergency Preparedness Garden and the Firestorm Memorial Garden by Bentley School. Our gardening team has grown from five regulars to 13, led by Nancy Mueller and Fred Booker (Fred Booker, Geri Charnin, Adriana Duque, Kevin Faulkner, Sean Gilmore, Cornelia Grimes, Donna Karch, David Kessler, Peggy Mooney, Nancy Mueller, Marina Swee, JD van der Werf, Joshua van der Werf).
Our focus has been to reduce the overall volume and density of plants, especially those that are invasive, weedy or which pose a fire hazard. We are working hard to comply with expected zone zero requirements for the perimeter of the Gateway Garden pavilion.
Additionally, as weeds and grasses were cut back across the street from the Gateway Garden young oak sprouts were discovered and fenced to limit deer browsing while additional California Buckeyes were planted which will be grand habitat providers in years to come.
We tend the two gardens on the 2nd and 4th Saturdays of each month, from 9-11 a.m. The whole community is invited to help. If garden work is not your thing, we are happy to accept donations! https://northhillscommunity.org/support-our-work/
The installation of the Memorial Garden irrigation water was provided by Bentley School. However, the irrigation system is in dire need of repair with leaking valves and ruptured lines resulting in costly water bills for Bentley School. The School has understandably decided to shut off the water to the garden. It is our hope that our community will be able to raise the funds for replacement of the system and take over responsibility for the water meter.
In addition to our bi-monthly events, we have hosted three groups of UC Berkeley students on their project days: April 10, October 4 and November 8. We typically have about 20 students each time and they are great workers. We provide them with lunch courtesy of several generous donors: Andrea Gordon, Cheryl and Berndt Schleifer and Julie Nachtwhey. Our last group of Chevron workers was April 21. They, too, were fabulous workers but since Chevron has moved out of the state, they are no longer offering this help. If any of you know corporations who need a charity event, please contact us! On these group workdays we typically fill 35 or so 30-gallon green waste bags and several 30-gallon trash bags. As a group, we have filled well over 600 green waste bags since January!
Our most recent effort is daffodil bulb planting! KOB (Keep Oakland Beautiful) donated dozens of bulbs! We planted bulbs at Gateway Garden on Nov 8 with our UC students and will plant more of the bulbs this coming Saturday, the 22nd, from 9-11 a.m. at the Memorial Garden. Come for a moment of quiet reflection then help us memorialize the return of life and Spring. It is forecast to be beautiful and sunny that day, so contact us if you can help!
Yours in contemplation of the great outdoors. Fred Booker, Garden Committee Chair
Nancy Mueller, Garden Committee Member