Sam’s new favourite plant!
Acer Palmatum dissectum
Plants and Planting
We love plants! They are after all what brings a garden to life. Whatever your style, care requirements and budget C.A.R. Gardens can suggest suitable plants. We carefully assess your garden’s aspect and soil conditions (which vary widely on the island) and can prepare professional planting pl...
Organic Garden Maintenance
C.A.R. Gardens offers an island wide garden maintenance service that is honest, reliable and professional. We are proud to offer a personal and tailored service that will suit both you and your garden. We can be reactive, or schedule to visit your garden fortnightly, monthly or on a quarterly basis....
Apple blossom
The recent thunder storms have created some dramatic weather. I only wish I could capture it on camera! The change in light has a interesting effect on the garden, its plants and flowers.Reducing the amount of blossom on fruit trees at this time of year will produce an even, healthy and abundant cro...
Garden Artworks
C.A.R. Gardens has links with several artists producing unique pieces of art suitable for outdoor environments. If you would like to commission a piece for your garden, please feel free to discuss with us or with the artist directly. Artists: we invite you to display your work on our web pages, so p...
Contact us!
We would love to hear from you! If you wish to discuss your ideas about your outdoor space, please contact Craig at: C.A.R. Gardens , 15 Winton StreetRyde, Isle of Wight, UK. PO33 2BX Mobile 07940 598145Office 01983 617008 or email the office onacorns@cargardens.co.uk We operate island wide, and off...
My favouite flowers in the garden right now
Lunaria, common name Honesty. This beautiful plant and highly scented flower is attracting our attention (and the bees) in our garden at home. Jemma and I planted the seeds last May and kind of forgot about them until this year we have this amazing display. The dried seed heads later in the year res...
/ on April 25, 2008
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Links
If you enjoy browsing the web for gardening advice or ideas… here are some of our favourite and most visited web sites. We’ve also included some local Isle of Wight sites we like and a couple more general ‘life style’ sites. Its all very Green and Organic!(All links open in a new window....
Who are we?
C. A. R. Gardens is a landscape gardening company, based on the Isle of Wight, UK. Craig Ratcliff is the owner, and he employs a small team to assist in designing, constructing and maintaining private, public and commercial outdoor spaces. With our busy environment we endeavor to supply work to loca...
Art in the garden
Since my school days sculpture has been close to my heart. I studied ceramics to degree level, and gained a strong sense for form and function. This training is applied to my gardens, and has forged a desire to incorporate interesting art in the garden. I welcome artists to display their work on my ...
Testimonials from our Happy Customers!
Thank you to all our customers who have taken the time to think about and send us these comments: Sanjay Randany at Waxham House Residential Home, Ryde wrote: Thank you for the lovely work you & your colleagues have undertaken for us. The residents are extremely happy with the new look garden. ...
/ on April 20, 2008
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Supporting the Wildlife Trusts
CAR Gardens have an ambition to succeed as a business whilst reducing its impact on the natural environment. After all, the natural environment is fundamental to the sustainability of a gardening business! So to be part of the solution of a changing planet we have promised to donate 2.5% of our annu...
Warrens’ favourite plant so far!
In response to ‘The meet the team’ blog a couple of weeks ago, Warren has reconsidered his position on “favourite plant right now” and asked me to post the following: Allium var ‘Hair’ Looks like something out of a Dr. Seuss storybook! Whimsical blooms have reddis...
Bird, bat and bug boxes for your garden.
Looking after gardens organically means working with and harnessing the forces of nature. And so with this in mind we are using wildlife habitats in each new design and offering our regular maintenance customers these bat, bird and bug boxes. Birds, bats and bugs such as lady birds and lacewings wil...
/ on March 14, 2008
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Residental Care Home: Our latest landscaping project
The owner of Waxham House Residential Care Home in Ryde approached C.A.R. Gardens with an interesting brief. The garden was almost entirely laid to lawn and concrete, with a loved but dominant fish pond. Our customer really wanted the garden to be a place of interest, vitality and movement. Crucial ...
/ on March 13, 2008
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Meet the team: Craig, Warren and Sam
Craig. Owner of CAR Gardens. I have been gardening since as long as I can remember. As a child I grew vegetables at home, and dug a hole to Australia in the back garden! I graduated from Bath with a BA Hons in 3D design, and after a few years paying my student debts of […]
For Sale – Nest Boxes
Valentines day sees the launch of National Nest Box Week. Sometimes it feels like each day of the year is allocated to some cause, but we are of course happy to advertise this annual event. Tradition has it that the 14th February is when wild British birds start pairing up before preparing for their...
/ on February 08, 2008
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/ in hedges, our philosophy, wildlife friendly garden
Grow Your Own
Saturday was spent with the vegetables!Managing to grab an hour in the garden with my young son was, as always a great pleasure. He’s only two and a half but together we managed to sow some beetroot, turnips and radish seeds.A trip to the bottom of the garden has become a weekly focus; feeding...
Totland: Our latest landscaping project completes
Since October 2007 we have been busy landscaping in Totland. Our new customers have the good of their garden wildlife very much in mind, which gave us an added interest in the project.Firstly, a run of 12 mature Leylandii trees were felled and uprooted, revealing a magnificent view to the Downs. In ...
/ on February 02, 2008
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/ in Erik Phipps, Landscaping, wildlife friendly garden
Order your seeds
If you are finding these wet and dank days of late winter a frustration to your desire to garden, then perhaps flicking through the books, magazines and catalogues will help in planning what you can do when the weather improves. If like me you have very little time to amuse yourself in this manner t...
Rose Arch and Pergola
A smaller but great project for us this January. Since moving to the Island we have been asked to create bespoke gardens and features, but on this occasion our customers asked us to replace an arch and pergola in their garden. The old versions had fallen away with age and the battering winds of the ...
Seasonal Sunflowers
In our own garden we have really enjoyed growing these giants. They were grown from organic seeds, called Russian Mammoths. Sown directly last May in our flower bed that was planned to give us cut flowers and to attract pollinating and predatory insects. They were very successful (admittedly with li...
And A Peaceful New Year.
Just to wish all our readers and customers a very peaceful New Year. Do you have new year resolutions? I have already broken one of mine! However, as a business we will continue to be resolute in 2008 towards becoming more sustainable and focusing on what is really important in life. Obviously this ...
Merry Christmas!
Craig and Warren would like to say a big thank you to all our loyal customers who have helped support and grow this little enterprise, that is CAR Gardens. Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a very Peaceful New Year. We are looking forward to a bright 2008. Look out for lots of […]
A very friendly garden
Being respectful of our environment is paramount to the force behind CAR Gardens. Being friendly to wildlife in our designs, planting and construction are all important. But what is the reality of it all? We were challenged recently by a customer who asked us to put a little order into her ‘na...
Decking Out
A small court yard garden needed our attention recently. The property is part of a lovingly restored farm, and yet the combination of a contemporary design is softened and blended successfully by restoring the existing rustic timber.Gardens not only have to look good but also have to combine with us...
‘Blackle ‘ an energy saving idea!
www.blackle.com We have made this our home page in the office at CAR Gardens. The idea is that a bright monitor screen uses more energy per pixel than darker ones. Seems to make sense. It may be that the amount of energy saved is slight, but if we all dropped the usual white Google page […]