Gardens are human-made habitats, but they mimic the woodland edge, so they also hold on to water, slow down wind, create shade and provide food and homes for wildlife.

In cities they can absorb pollution and help reduce urban temperatures.

Crucially, they also link together to form vast corridors that connect other ecosystems (the woodlands, peatlands and other terrestrial systems mentioned above), enabling species to move between them, potentially giving them space to adapt to climate change.

Of course, they also absorb and store carbon – in lawns, in the bark of trees, in the sludge at the bottom of garden ponds, in soil, in leaf litter and compost.

Gardens are, or at least have the potential to be, an enormous but as yet untapped solution to the climate and biodiversity crisis.

But what are we doing?

Disappearing them beneath plastic and paving.

Beneath weed-suppressant membranes and "decorative" purple slate chips.

Beneath cars, beneath gravel, beneath entire new homes.

Beneath large stones and driftwood to make them look like the beach (my absolute favourite).