Green-fingered gardener Decibel Mbatika, who has helped to create a mini garden in front of homes in Holloway

• RATHER than putting planters on the pavement, or even in the road (See sense on parking, Letters, August 16), where they are as likely to cause an obstruction to pedestrians and cyclists as they are to motorists, it would be better if residents were encouraged to keep their front gardens in a clean and tidy state.

Throughout the borough front gardens tend to be overgrown with weeds, strewn with litter, and cluttered up with overflowing recycling boxes, leaking plastic sacks of rubbish, or old furniture. Where properties have no front gardens the pavements are permanently used for this purpose instead.

Issuing residents with permits to use space in the road for purposes other than parking cars would only make matters worse. Maintaining any sort of garden calls for a degree of commitment which most people in Islington seem to be unwilling to make.

Walking around Islington’s streets is a depressing experience for this reason, not because there are cars parked in the road.

MJL HALL, N19