Guerrilla Gardeners in 'am-bush tactics'

Guerrilla Gardeners premieres Wednesday.

The marketing for the show masks the identities of the six, in line with a desire to "protect identities". While most of the episodes have already been filmed, once they become recognisable to the public, their covert operations will become much harder to pull off.

Guerrilla gardening has become something of a movement around the world as environmentalists "squat" on land parcels they don't own and add plants, soil and even small crops. The TEN show boasts that it breaks "Federal, State and local laws" as its team raid inner city concrete patches, sometimes in the dead of night.

The team (only one of which might be familiar to cable viewers) is young and renegade. But while their hearts and shovels are in the right places, not everyone shares their approach.

Sutherland Council in Sydney blasted the show for making over a busy Jannali roundabout adjoining three roadways and a petrol station.

"The landscaping they have done is not appropriate or sustainable on that site and the crew placed themselves and the community at risk in the process by failing to comply with workplace safety laws and relevant road rules," a council spokesperson said.

The council claimed plants had not survived on the roundabout previously because of poor soil.

"If the crew had chosen to work with council instead of staging a dangerous publicity stunt, we could have together achieved a positive, sustainable outcome for the community -- legally and safely," the spokesperson said.

For their part, the Guerrilla Gardeners seem unperturbed, determined to add a little greenery and risk the long arm of the law. It should make for a good episode if it makes it to air.

Guerrilla Gardeners premieres 8pm Wednesday on TEN.