Friends of the Urban Forest announced this week that it's gearing up to launch a neighborhood-wide tree planting for the Haight and Cole Valley, which is set to kick off May 9th.

The best part? You can apply for a tree planting on your own stretch of sidewalk. Applications are open to anyone, including businesses, but must be signed by the owner of the affected property.

The cost of a planting is $175, which includes concrete removal, the tree, the labor to plant it and the associated city permitting fees, all of which the nonprofit FUF assesses at a real cost of $475 per tree. The rest of the tab is covered by a combination of grants, volunteer work and donations.

Applicants can even request specific tree species according to the site and their whims; Friends of the Urban Forest is also available to provide site recommendations.

This tree-growth effort comes in the midst of some turmoil for the care of urban trees in San Francisco. The city is in the process of handing over responsibility for some 24,000 street trees to private property owners, in a plan scheduled to take some seven years.

The maintenance transfer began in 2012 as an effort to cope with budget cuts and the city's financial liability. The process makes property owners liable for any street trees on their sidewalks.

At the same time, the city is currently working with various partners to develop an Urban Forest Plan, which would provide funding for a 50% increase in urban forest coverage and also provide a funding structure for all public tree maintenance to revert back to the city.

In the meantime, if you want to pick up a shovel and help out, Friends of the Urban Forest is always looking for volunteers.