AbstractGitSCMSource.retrieve fails due to nonexistent cache directory

hudson.plugins.git.GitException: Could not init $JENKINS_HOME/caches/git-4ab...
	at org.jenkinsci.plugins.gitclient.CliGitAPIImpl$5.execute(CliGitAPIImpl.java:656)
	at org.jenkinsci.plugins.gitclient.CliGitAPIImpl.init(CliGitAPIImpl.java:181)
	at hudson.plugins.git.GitAPI.init(GitAPI.java:217)
	at jenkins.plugins.git.AbstractGitSCMSource.retrieve(AbstractGitSCMSource.java:275)
	at jenkins.scm.api.SCMSource.fetch(SCMSource.java:147)
	at jenkins.scm.api.SCMSource.retrieve(SCMSource.java:231)
	at jenkins.scm.api.SCMSource.fetch(SCMSource.java:176)
	at jenkins.plugins.git.AbstractGitSCMSourceTest.retrieveHeads(AbstractGitSCMSourceTest.java:74)
	at ...
Caused by: hudson.plugins.git.GitException: Error performing command: git init $JENKINS_HOME/caches/git-4ab...
	at org.jenkinsci.plugins.gitclient.CliGitAPIImpl.launchCommandIn(CliGitAPIImpl.java:1726)
	at org.jenkinsci.plugins.gitclient.CliGitAPIImpl.launchCommandIn(CliGitAPIImpl.java:1695)
	at org.jenkinsci.plugins.gitclient.CliGitAPIImpl.launchCommandIn(CliGitAPIImpl.java:1691)
	at org.jenkinsci.plugins.gitclient.CliGitAPIImpl.launchCommand(CliGitAPIImpl.java:1321)
	at org.jenkinsci.plugins.gitclient.CliGitAPIImpl$5.execute(CliGitAPIImpl.java:654)
	... 34 more
Caused by: java.io.IOException: Cannot run program "git" (in directory "$JENKINS_HOME/caches/git-4ab..."): error=2, No such file or directory
	at java.lang.ProcessBuilder.start(ProcessBuilder.java:1048)
	at hudson.Proc$LocalProc.<init>(Proc.java:244)
	at hudson.Proc$LocalProc.<init>(Proc.java:216)
	at hudson.Launcher$LocalLauncher.launch(Launcher.java:803)
	at hudson.Launcher$ProcStarter.start(Launcher.java:381)
	at org.jenkinsci.plugins.gitclient.CliGitAPIImpl.launchCommandIn(CliGitAPIImpl.java:1715)
	... 38 more
Caused by: java.io.IOException: error=2, No such file or directory
	at java.lang.UNIXProcess.forkAndExec(Native Method)
	at java.lang.UNIXProcess.<init>(UNIXProcess.java:248)
	at java.lang.ProcessImpl.start(ProcessImpl.java:134)
	at java.lang.ProcessBuilder.start(ProcessBuilder.java:1029)
	... 43 more