There are all kinds of gardens, and all kinds of deserts. Including ‘food deserts’ – places where it is so difficult or expensive for people to buy fresh food that they are forced to eat fast food or processed foods that are linked to diseases such as diabetes.

But as ‘guerrilla gardener’ Ron Finley says in a marvellous 2013 TED Talk, the answer lies in the problem. And in many ways, it is an answer that links us with our early ancestors and how they used to feed their communities.

Finley began converting the small strip of grass by the road in front of his house into an edible garden that anyone could harvest. At first, although he was required to maintain the grassy strip, Los Angeles didn’t like his approach. The city tried to force him to remove his garden; he refused; it turned into a cause celebre, and he won.

He was part of a group known as Los Angeles Green Grounds, founded in 2010 by retired botanist and gardener Florence Nishida, whose retirement project was to set up gardening classes in the city.