He hacked through the undergrowth to plant them, in soil so heavy that people had given up trying to grow vegetables on it. Along a cycle path, his friend Bethan has harvested some chives, which may or may not be those she planted a year or two ago. The cherries and plums that thrive along the path end up as jam. And all over the city, derelict land is sprouting, where people like Mike and Bethan have planted everything from apple trees to strawberries. Wherever derelict urban land can be brought back to life as green space, the guerrilla gardeners can work.
Some people just drift through, plant and then move on.
People around the world manage their resources without having ownership of them, so it's strange that guerrilla gardening is seen as subversive. Gypsies have practised it for generations, planting potatoes by a roadside, moving on, and returning to collect their crop. But now it has become politicised. As a movement, it is vague and made up of many disparate groups. Rather than buying apples flown from Chile, you can grow your own where you live.