The Watershed Project's Hope Gardens Community Project
The Watershed Project's mission is to inspire San Francisco Bay Area communities to understand, appreciate, and protect our local watersheds.
Since 2019, The Watershed Project has been partnering with Contra Costa County and the City of Richmond to create drought-tolerant habitat gardens in the narrow planting strips along the streets of North Richmond through the Hope Gardens Project. The planting strip is located between the street and the sidewalk, and is a notoriously difficult bit of land for plants to thrive in. However, there are many plants that can and do thrive even in this harsh environment when care is taken to properly prepare the site and appropriate plant species are selected that can tolerate challenging conditions.
With the help of local North Richmond residents, The Watershed Project follows these steps in transforming a weedy neglected planting strip into a colorful garden:
1) Select appropriate sites
2) Verify that all sites are safe to dig through the USA utility verification process
3) Prepare the site by removing all weeds by the roots and installing weed cloth
4) Plant the garden with the help of the resident whose home is behind the garden
Each garden is maintained in perpetuity by the resident whose home is closest to the garden. Maintenance tasks include weeding and watering to ensure that the plants are established. With each Hope Garden that is created, the North Richmond community becomes a more inviting place for both humans and wildlife to enjoy.
Contact Paula White at 510-833-6470 or paula@thewatershedproject for more information.
Hope Garden Photos
2020-2021 Term (PDF)
2021-2022 Term (PDF)
2022-2023 Term (PDF)