Guerrilla Gardening is the term for planting in areas that the gardener doesn’t own. While the term was first coined in the 1970’s in New York, it took off again in the early 2000’s when Richard Reynolds started blogging his local adventures in London. Since then, people all over the world have bonded together to improve the areas around them.

They tend to plant in abandoned lots, along roadsides, in areas that have become overgrown and unloved, anywhere that needs care. Either for the purpose of beautifying the area or simply to grow produce that they need, people have been illegally growing for centuries, with the first written evidence all the way back in 1650’s. “There is neglected orphaned land all over the place. Pockets of resistance have broken out in some areas as guerrilla gardeners fight back to reclaim this precious resource and cultivate it,” Reynolds says on his website, Guerrillagardening.org.

But it is not just individuals working by themselves. In Brazil, there is an organization called the MST, or Movement of Landless Rural Workers, who help citizens take unused land peacefully and grow crops to help communities. Since 1985, they have helped over 350,000 families gain land titles and improve their living conditions. South Africa has a similar organization called the Landless People’s Movement.

As Reynolds put it in his book, On Guerrilla Gardening: A Handbook For Gardening Without Boundaries, “Where there has never been colour a guerrilla gardener finds a way to bring it into the environment, seeing potential where others saw blank, barren boredom.”

Targets of guerrilla gardening efforts are often:

• Empty and Abandoned Lots
• Bridge Embankments
• Roadsides
• Dead or Overgrown Gardens
• By Trees Without Much Plant Growth
• Ends of Sidewalks
• Light Poles and Bus Stops

Their work can be as simple as tossing some seed bombs; which are balls of clay and seeds that can help with planting in hard-to-reach areas or areas that you aren’t legally allowed to be on for any length of time; to planting whole saplings in cover of night, they can terraform an area completely. Their goal is to always plant native seeds, deal with weeds that strangle out other plants, and remove invasive species where they can. There are many plants that are considered invasive in Nebraska, but some of the more priority ones are: Black Knapweed, which competes with plants found in pastures, hay fields, and meadows; Russian Knapweed and Saint John’s Wort, which are toxic to livestock; Caucasian Bluestem, which can increase wildfire risks; and Yellow Bluestem, which is hard to kill and offers less nutrition for cattle and other livestock.

Reynolds recommends in his book that, if you are going to secretly plant in an area that doesn’t belong to you, that you a) plant something colorful to attract attention and brighten the area; b) plant something that wouldn’t have just sprung up around the area, while still keeping to native plants; and c) plant something fragrant that will delight people’s day.

You should also consider planting hardy plants that will be more likely to survive in areas that are hard to care for, such as plants that are drought-tolerant, shade-tolerant, wind-tolerant, and/or able to survive in different soil types. There are also plants that are good at fighting off weeds or keeping pests away that can be great for public areas.

It’s also good to get plants from your local nurseries or places that sell seeds, which will also help small businesses in your area. Reynolds also points out in his manual that you will have more success with fragile or finicky plants if you start them at home before secreting them to their permanent location.

People around the world are working together, defiant of the legality, to make life a little more beautiful and food a little more plentiful every day. They are taking the chance to fight to make the world the way they dream it, and aren’t afraid of taking risks to do so. It will be interesting to see what the next generation will do with taking up the banner.

If you want to learn more about Guerrilla Gardening, you can go to Guerrillagardening.org, or their Facebook page @guerrillagardening. There is also a dedicated Reddit page that you can visit, r/GuerrillaGardening, where people around the world share the work they are doing and trade advice.