Have you ever fancied a bit of guerrilla gardening? That’s guerrilla, as in ‘member of a small independent group of people sticking it to The Man’, not gorilla, as in ‘largest and most powerful of the great apes.

A Guerrilla Gardener ‘adopts’ land they don’t own or have any legal rights over – typically an urban oasis of dereliction or a bit of lawn outside their block of flats - and uses it to raise food or flowers. Guerrilla gardeners sometimes work secretly at night to regreen their cities. Others do it in full view and use it as a way to involve shedloads of people from their community.

Whatever its modus operandi, guerrilla gardening is a form of direct activism that, because it’s to do with food and land ownership, can’t help but be political.

I was reminded of guerrilla gardening when I read the statement last week from the Rural Affairs Secretary, Richard Lochhead. The Minister was on a visit to Drylaw and Telford Community Gardens, where he met some of the enthusiastic growers as a backdrop to endorsing the workings of the Grow Your Own Working Group.

The Grow Your Own Working Group has been working with Scottish Government and other partners since 2009. Their task has been to look at how things need to be changed to allow more people in Scotland to Grow Their Own. Their recommendations include changes to the planning framework, changes to the Allotment Act to make it easier – and quicker– to get allotments in a community, advice and training on how to Grow Your Own, funding and access to land. Of these, the greatest and by far the trickiest is ‘access to land’ – the critical issue of ‘who owns Scotland?’ about which Andy Wightman writes so persuasively.

All of these are really important things that need to happen.

But the wheels of the machine – especially when the machine is one of national or regional governance - can often turn painfully slowly, never more so than if you’re trying to get allotments in your community.  And while it’s fine to wait for the high hiedyins to get their act together, if there’s a bit of orphaned land outside your front door, it would a pity not to use it, wouldn’t it?

The daddy of all guerrilla gardeners, Richard Reynolds started his solo guerrilla gardening outside Perronet House – a council block in London’s Elephant and Castle – in an attempt to beautify his neighbourhood. But he inspired others equally frustrated by lack of access to land and soon had a lot of willing helpers whilst simultaneously kickstarting an international band of guerrilla gardeners. His simple 12 step approach is outlined on his famous blog and online guerrilla gardening community website.

Those 12 steps are:

1 Spot some local orphaned land – it could be a municipal planter or a bit of mud between concrete paving slabs.

2 Plan a mission – a evening re-greening raid when you’re less likely to attract the notice of the powers that be.

3 Find a local supply of plants.

4 Choose your best ‘troops’ for the frontline – hardy and colourful plants work best because they have the biggest impact.

5 Get the right footwear…

6…and enough plastic bags to take away the spoils of war.

7 Make sure your plot is watered regularly (I know, rarely a problem north of the border).

8 Make or buy seed bombs for hard to reach areas.

9 Add compost to naturally boost fertility.

10 Spread the word in your neighbourhood about what you’re doing and why, or start a conversation about regreening your bit of the city.

11 Get your wheels sorted if you have to travel to your adopted plot.

12 Get hold of a copy of Richard’s book from your local library or local bookshop for the full low-down on guerrilla gardening.

Across the planet, urban streets and little orphaned patches of land are being adopted and turned into mini havens for wildlife, native flowers and veggies. Some can be quite big patches of land -Leaf Street Community Garden is an acre of land in my old hometown of Hulme in Manchester – once an urban street in an area of multiple deprivation, now a thriving community garden.

Similar projects which focus on planting in communal spaces - like Incredible Edible – are springing to life across Scotland.

So while I encourage you to head along to the allotments consultation meetings held by the Scottish Government. There’s one on Tuesday, May 7 at Atlantic Quay,Glasgow from 2pm-4pm and the final one is on Thursday, May 16 at Saughton House, Edinburgh from 2pm-4pm. I would also strongly encourage you not to sit back and wait for the problem of access to land to be solved by the powers that be.

There are small patches of unloved land across Scotland and especially in our inner cities, just waiting for people to care for them.

May 1 was International Sunflower Guerrilla Gardening Day (yes, I know it’s late, but so is this growing season!). If you fancy planting a few belated seeds wherever you can find a patch of neglected land, you’ll be in very good company.