As with much of the rest of England London & the S East have now been officially declared to be in drought – & this picture taken from Head Gardener Jan Melkenbeek’s drone gives a sense of the devastation it has wrought on our beautiful Garden. Among the casualties has been the herb bed, only relatively recently brought into cultivation – the soil is bone dry & the sage in particular looks as if it’s struggling to survive. If anyone living nearby has the time -- & the waterin

Residents should be aware that there have been sightings recently of a black Range Rover & a black Mercedes parked up on Castellain Road with the occupants behaving suspiciously. According to local resident Giorgios Giannakopoulos over five consecutive days they have been driving up around midday & staying put for a few hours with their engines running. Today at a slightly earlier time they were joined by a silver BMW. Originally they parked at the bottom of the road near For

...not just the England football team but also the ever-expanding herb bed to be found at the far end of the Med bed. Created exactly two years ago it has gone from strength to strength, with basil & chives planted today to join the mint, sage, rosemary & thyme currently there in abundance. And don't forget -- it's all free to eager pickers living on the Garden!

Yes the judges for London in Bloom, which Formosa has entered for the first time this year, will be visiting tomorrow afternoon to make their assessment! We're confident that the communal Garden is looking at its best & hopefully the many private gardens that back onto it as well. Formosa has also entered the London Squares Garden competition whose results will be known in the Autumn. Basically we don't see why Crescent should continue to have it all its own way!

.....try acting as a volunteer for three hours over the London Open Gardens Weekend which opens up private spaces like ours to the public -- this year on June 7 -- in aid of their charity. Mild temperatures & a blessed lack of rain meant that no fewer than 196 punters passed through the Castellain Road Gate, re-emerging with comments like: "What a lovely little hidden gem", "You can tell this is loved & a proper community garden" " & perhaps most gratifyingly, from a couple w

And not a moment too soon.... After careful consideration of extensive feedback Westminster Council has now approved a revised design for the Warwick Avenue Public Realm Project at an additional cost of £2.9m. The measures will include discouraging anti-social behaviour through improved lighting & CCTV, creating safer & clearer pedestrian routes, greening around the station ventiltion shaft to enhance its appearance & sustainable drainage to improve flood resilience. Resident

Last winter Jan & his team at Gravitas planted a new species of tulip intended to add a lot more colour to parts of the Garden which were a bit short of interest & now their hard work has visibly paid off with this glorious explosion of colour: The gardeners have been touched by the compliments they’ve been receiving from residents & it all augurs well for our entry in the next couple of months into the London in Bloom & London Squares Garden competitions.

Dog owners are reminded that the longer dog hours which came into force at the beginning of November, allowing pets to be exercised off the lead until 10.30am, have now come to an end. Despite this some residents have been in contact with our Agents to report that a few dogs are still to be seen off-lead as late as 10.45am. Please will all dog-owners adhere to this new cut-off time of 10 am & remind anyone they might see in breach of it that the rules have changed!

As residents will know & hopefully appreciate the Garden spends a lot of money on new bulbs every year but this year the gardeners have noticed that many of those under the large plane tree have been trampled by dogs, including most of the new crocuses. Please can dog-owners take care to keep their pets away from this area so that this welcome patch of Spring colour can continue to thrive. A low bamboo screen is being erected to help protect the site. . ' Just a reminder that

Following investigation into the issue affecting the gate, here is an update on the current status and the proposed next steps. We appreciate your understanding and would like to reassure residents that we are working to identify the most effective and sustainable solution for the community. The main Castellain Road gate has been out of action due to a fault with the central control system. In some past instances this type of failure has been resolved by a software reboot a