The garden that made an estate grow together

He has lived in a sixth-floor flat on the Cranbrook Estate in Bethnal Green since it was built in 1956. There are 800 flats on the estate, and when you look up, it's concrete as far as the eye can see.

On Tuesday morning, Sonny and I were standing in the estate's recently built community vegetable garden launching our Edible Estates competition: climbing beans, lettuce, potato plants and apples growing in containers have gone a long way to soften the buildings' hard outlines.

The garden used to be a children's playground but, as Sonny explains, there was only one climbing frame and that was on concrete, so it was dangerous. The playground fell into disuse about seven years ago and the area, bordered by a row of garages and a six-foot-high wire fence, became a hang-out for teens. "A drinking, drugging and shouting rude remarks sort of space," says Sonny, expertly rolling a cigarette.

Eighteen months ago, a group of residents decided to turn it into a garden. Thirty people came to an initial meeting in the local community centre, which sits next to the garden, and a core team emerged. They had heard about our Capital Growth project and decided to apply for a grant. We awarded them £750, to which Tower Hamlets subsequently added £5,000. Scaffolding planks were donated by Trads, a local builders merchants: our grant paid for top soil, seeds, tools, compost and a wormery.

Laura Buckley, who lives in a fourth-floor flat in the block above the garages, became the de facto guiding light. She was already a gardener but only in pots, which are clearly visible on her balcony. "Before this happened I didn't know anyone on the estate. I just came in and out and went on to my balcony when I needed fresh air. Now I know almost everyone: the garden has completely changed the place for me. I think that's true for all of us."

Helen Ford, who is the other main worker, had been made redundant from her job as a librarian. She confesses to knowing absolutely nothing about gardening but "I was good at reading the directions on the seed packets". Now she has taken her involvement a step further and last week completed her RHS Level 2 Horticulture exams.

The expert was Sonny, who for 20 years had looked after his own allotment. "They were hopeless," he says with a grin, "chucking seeds all over the place, growing everything too close. Just look at the carrots!"

I did, and they were a bit close, but a little judicious thinning not only created space but also provided large bunches of thin, delicious vegetables.

The garden consists of 10 big raised beds, two feet high, with rich, deep soil. We dug up dozens of new potatoes emitting that wonderful earthy smell of growth, good food and life. All the beds are communal, which means everyone is responsible for the whole garden. There is a watering rota and Laura and Helen spend a few hours there almost every day, weeding and planting. There's a new greenhouse, courtesy of the Tower Hamlets grant, and Laura was planting out lemon seedlings which she had grown from seed from an actual lemon.

"I just tried it," she says. "To start with I watered the seeds, and nothing happened. Then I went away and the soil dried out and up they came."

I now have one on my desk and I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

"Lots of people come by and when we need a hand it is great how many people turn up to help. When we first cleared the site, which was covered in brambles and rubbish, we dug down and found a huge membrane which must have been laid years ago. People saw us struggling and came in and helped."

The produce — and this year's harvest is already yielding plenty — is shared among the group but when there's a surplus it is handed out to visitors. People from the estate have started bringing vegetable scraps to donate to the compost bed: in return, they can fill their own balcony pots from the pile.

The Edible Estates competition is open to all residents of social housing projects in London and runs from now till September 22. The top three winners will receive a £250 token from B&Q, a 10-piece tool set from Bulldog, a Wiggly Wigglers Worm Café, and places on the Capital Growth Training Scheme. To enter, 020 7837 1228, capitalgrowth.org/edibleestates