I became a guerrilla gardener over a decade ago. My family had moved to a kind of North London San Andreas fault where gentrification meets desolation, and at its heart is Camden Square — then a haunt of junkies, alcoholics and semi-feral dogs.

A disabled neighbour, who like myself is a passionate gardener, wanted to plant up some ugly concrete tubs made from sewer pipes, on a corner of Agar Grove. Together with a couple of interested adults, and a band of children, we painted and planted these, paying for plants or donating them from our own gardens.

It was such a success that we then moved on to the square. I raised money from residents, posting leaflets and organising an annual Easter Egg hunt for local kids (sponsored by Waitrose).

Many had never touched a trowel or a plant in their lives, but getting them to plant bulbs and improve the soil stopped them picking such flowers.

Fewer junkies and more families began to enjoy the gardens. For a couple of years, nobody in the council noticed, but then they got cross.

Many flowers we’d planted were dug up.

So my friend, wisely, decided to try to work with the council. After several tense meetings, we were granted formal permission, plus an all-important standpipe, which meant that we had to battle only with shade, not dry shade.

There’s now a beautiful flower-bed at the top of the square, largely planted by residents.

But our actions spurred the council on to do some replanting of its own.

The flowerbeds were all dug over and properly replanted on a scale we could only dream of. Although my friend moved on to brighten up a local council estate and I became too absorbed by a new novel, every year I still see the hundreds of daffodils we planted return like constellations in the grass and feel the satisfaction of knowing “I did that”.

Amanda Craig’s new novel, Hearts and Minds, set around Agar Grove, has just been published by Little, Brown, £11.99

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