Gardening/Gardens

Hi,
My name is Maggie.

At the Chobham Manor Residents Association Annual General Meeting held in April 2025 I was voted onto the CMRA committee to act as liaison between the residents and the gardening staff from L&Q.

The Estate was designed around a central spine of flower beds and grassed areas. There are also podiums at Tull house, Nolan Mansions and Hyett Court; an enclosed garden at Audax Heights / Triathlon Court and the play spaces which feature grassed and flower beds. There are planted beds and borders in the Goswell Court Car Park. There are also over 300 trees which includes the fruit trees in the Orchard.

David Williams has supervised the gardening staff for the last year. He oversees the staff on at least three other L&Q sites. 

The gardeners who work here are Zee, Colin and Joe.

David was determined that the gardeners would only work on the grounds and not be tasked to cover the L&Q office or for block caretakers, as had happened in the past. Unfortunately he was overruled at Christmas and gardeners acted as cleaners within the housing blocks. 

David organised the placement of hoses in the majority of bin stores enabling the majority of beds to be reached. A ground watering system was added to a large bed which had an existing standing tap. The bed on the roadside at Grupetto Terrace is difficult to reach but there may be an option to add a standing tap.  There is still a need to improve the watering of the beds.

The wildflower garden has received special attention as the original planting was of early spring plants,a low proportion of which were perennials. David has added more seed and bulbs. The fence has been installed to protect the plants from delivery drivers and dogs.

Shrubs were added to beds in the central spine and the large bed on Grupetto Terrace. Fruit bushes were added to Nolan Mansion's podium.

Replanting of the Thyme Steps was attempted but was unsuccessful.

The grassed area along Temple Mills Lane was cleared and reseeded. A fence is being added.

The Willow walk was revived with the planting of 5 new trees. 

The care of street furniture was undertaken by a L&Q handyman but for 2025 each gardener will maintain the street furniture in his area.

Chemical spraying of weeds is the preferred method of control when carried out by qualified staff. David and Zee are qualified to spray and arrangements are being made to send current gardeners on the course. 

The sand in the sand pit is blown over all the beds in the play area and some residents have complained about the mess it makes. It was agreed with Dobir ( Neighbourhood housing lead) that a coarser sand should be tried.

David and I worked on a care plan to organise maintenance of the grounds over the year. We met at least monthly during the year.

 Recently L&Q have reorganized their management structure and David's new boss Ruth has recognized the need to change the recruitment process so that the suitability and capability of future gardening staff should be improved.

However following this reorganization David has accepted a post elsewhere in the Organisation. 

My aim has been to adhere to the original Planting Plans where sustainable and complement and enhance the scheme of planting. Plants have been added by CMRA to fill gaps and introduce more year-long colour. 

The plants need to be robust as they are trampled by animals and people. The presence of dog faeces on the beds and on The Green persists despite signs and the appeals by the gardening staff. 

The sunflowers which were planted by families attending the Easter Egg Hunt in 2024 gave a good display around the sand play area. Different types of sunflower were planted varying in height from 45cm to 180cm. The seeds were harvested with the intent of planting again in 2025.

Herbs and tomato plants were added to the beds on Nolan Mansions podium and several residents adopted space to grow vegetables. Another resident has added and cared for flowers in some of the borders. 

At the family bulb planting event in October bulbs of a white daffodil, smaller allium and Iris were added to the previous year's plantings.