The accidental gardener

Lorraine Cooper and her neighbours are busy with preparations for this Sunday's London Garden Squares Day, when more than 80 private and public garden squares will throw open their gates to visitors. The final mow and tidy have been tackled, the gazebos they bought for their jubilee party last year are ready to go up - someone has even agreed to make proper lemonade. Sounds idyllic, especially when you know that this is Hackney and not one of the typical gardens dotted round Kensington and Notting Hill.

But then Cooper is not a typical gardener. She's 37, single and works in the City, and her friends can't quite fathom her out-of-hours identity as secretary of Fassett Square Garden Committee. 'When I talk about what we do here people's eyes glaze over,' she says. She moved in six years ago because even then - as a non-gardener - she loved the setting. 'I liked the flat because the square looked peaceful and well-tended.'

The houses are typical two-storey Victorian terrace stock (so typical that set designers from EastEnders used their architecture as a basis for Albert Square). But the planners who built them in the 1860s for workers at the local German hospital had the foresight to include a small patch of shared ground. Measuring just 110ft x 30ft, this unexpected oasis is a meeting ground for local residents.

'Within a week of moving in I had a visit from a neighbour to tell me how the garden worked and ask if I'd help out. I agreed to do some weeding,' says Cooper. That was in April. By January she'd been voted on to the committee --despite her best efforts she was turning into a gardener.

The Square hasn't always been an asset. It was the royal wedding 22 years ago that spurred residents to reclaim their private patch of ground. Before they could hold the obligatory street party they had to tidy up and that meant clearing out what had become a dump for old mattresses and fridges.

Several dozen skips later the original garden plan was just about visible so they decided to restore rather than redesign. And what they recovered is an unassuming Victorian gem. Bordered on all sides by lime trees and enclosed within the original iron railings, it has a meandering path to create the illusion of width. Even though the houses are visible it feels secret and secluded. There are no grand flower displays, just benches, mixed beds and shade-loving plants.

Cooper says that despite the official-sounding committee, things work on an informal basis. 'There are six weekends a year when we do major work and everyone is invited.' Keener gardeners like Cooper are out there all summer. Everyone pays £20 a year for upkeep and plants. Communal gardens don't allow for plant snobbery. 'People are just sent off to the garden centre and told to come back with something pretty,' says Cooper.

They've received unexpected windfalls, including an Arts Council grant for a barbecue, a tall iron structure - suspiciously similar to a birdbath - that gets fired-up during regular summer parties. Residents are also welcome to use the space for private events --there have even been a couple of wedding receptions held there.

On Sunday Fassett Square will be out in force. The resident t'ai chi instructor is giving demos, there's a gifted cake-maker in their midst, another local is selling her pottery and Cooper is doing Indian head massages. 'Strangers are easy to spot because we all know who lives where,' says Cooper. 'There's also real pride in taking care of our community. I feel very lucky to have found this place.'