Gardening Blog

I quite like February, it's a bit of a renegade. Not only does it have a different number of days than any other month but it also reserves the right to change … Read more

Sowing and planting too early in the year We can all get a little over excited when the new year comes around especially if, like now, we've had relatively … Read more

Blueberries are high in antioxidants so widely regarded as a 'Superfruit' (whatever that is) but taking their health benefits apart they are also exceptionally … Read more

'How to grow gooseberries' is intended as a solid introduction to growing this relatively easy to grow fruit bush. For more detailed information on gooseberri … Read more

How To Build Raised Beds This article deals with how to build raised garden beds, what is the best size to make them and what is the best material to use. We w … Read more

How to grow bare root soft fruit In general and for the purposes of this article, soft fruit refers to soft skinned, juicy fruit borne on bushes or canes. O … Read more

Currants are an excellent fruit for the home gardener as they a relatively trouble free and produce large crops of highly nutritious fruit. Currants are divid … Read more

We are nearly at that time again when we sow some tiny seeds in compost and see them magically transform into large tomato plants bearing 15-20 kg of fruit … Read more

Collecting autumn leaves may seem like another garden tidying task to add to the list, but they are actually a valuable resource for the vegetable gardener. Whe … Read more

Can potato plants with late blight be composted? If care is taken the answer is yes. Blight spores can only survive on living plant tissue, once the foliage … Read more

Hello and welcome back to the Quickcrop garden. Well, it’s a beautiful day in mid September and today we are going to build one of our large New Zealand Box … Read more

Raised bed vegetable garden plan.I include my 2016 vegetable garden plan below if anyone is interested in what I'll be growing next year. My garden is now spli … Read more

Growing garlic is one of my favourite jobs in the vegetable garden. It is pretty much trouble free to grow and adds wonderful flavours to our home cooking. … Read more

Onions are some of the easiest things to grow and require very little looking after. As our friend Dermot Carey (last head gardener of Lissadell House) says if y … Read more

I think I mentioned last week that haven't been spending as much time as I should have in the vegetable garden due to the uninspiring weather we have been having … Read more

I must admit I'm finding it a little difficult to write my usual enthusiastic post today as my garden isn't quite the paradise it normally is at this time of ye … Read more

Raised beds are better for growing vegetables because they raise them off the ground level, protecting them from foot traffic and creating a more comfortable wor … Read more

This is a follow up to a weekly newsletter post where I mentioned a guy who worked with me a number of years ago who was always good for a funny turn of phras … Read more

If you are thinking about building some raised vegetable beds to make you kitchen garden a whole lot easier to manage you might want to consider our revolutio … Read more

If you have some spare space in your vegetable garden in July you could put in some 'Second Cropping' potatoes for a late Autumn/Winter harvest. Winter seed pota … Read more

How to plant your own Raised bed vegetable garden using the Quickcrop Square Foot garden method. Square foot gardening is all about taking advantage of smaller … Read more

I have always been a bit jealous of my brother in law as despite not being he worlds best linguist he manages to communicate no matter what country he finds hims … Read more

Our Quickcrop mini polytunnel kits have been designed to be attached, via a hinge, to a timber raised bed. They can also be secured straight into the ground us … Read more

Since I've been slow in the vegetable garden this year (which has recently turned from a wet and miserable prospect into a sun kissed paradise) I am very interes … Read more

It really is incredible how things burst into life when we get a bit of warmth and sunshine: my little plot is suddenly a very different place. It was such a ni … Read more

A brief explanation of soil pH  'pH' refers to how acid or alkaline a soil is. The scale runs from 0-14 and basically measures the amount of calcium in … Read more

Beginners Gardening Kits Vegetable gardening can be a little intimidating to the beginner and it is hard to know where to start with all the various information … Read more

Using growbags couldn’t be easier, here is how to grow potatoes in a bag. The great thing about potatoes is that they can be grown almost anywhere, even if space … Read more

Cabbage Pests & Diseases Cabbages and other brassicas have become a very important part of the vegetable garden in our climate. Different varieties of cabba … Read more

Square Foot Gardening is an easy to understand method of planting vegetables which splits a gardeners plot into square foot areas rather than into rows. This sys … Read more

If you have read any of our previous blog posts you will know that we are rather spoiled at Quickcrop with our large rural gardens with plenty of room to grow in … Read more

Growing carrots in containers can be more successful than you would expect, and it is a great way to begin growing your own food at home. Patio planters … Read more

Small Garden Ideas Vegetable growing should be available to anyone even if you have have a very small urban garden or worse, no garden at all! Small urban garde … Read more

Growing your own can be tricky business for someone new to vegetable gardening but there are a number of ways you can stack the odds of a successful harvest i … Read more

Raised Vegetable Bed Soil Volumes Our Raised vegetable beds come in all shapes and sizes and each has a different soil volume requirement. It is very … Read more

November is the month when growth in the vegetable garden finally grinds to a halt. Temperatures fall and daylight levels decrease, the season is over and oth … Read more

Researching the benefits of drinking wheatgrass juice has to be one of the most challenging tasks as opinions vary wildly from one side to the other. The problem … Read more

If you can't decide which fabulous item to choose for your gardening Christmas present why not get a gift voucher? Our specially designed gift vouchers are sent … Read more

Wheatgrass is regarded as a superfood, it is the young grass part of the sprouted wheat seed and is packed full of nutrients and vitamins. Because of this, … Read more

We've had a number of mails recently looking for information on pruning apple trees, it's too early now (late September) as the trees should be dormant but I'm d … Read more

As my garden moves into Autumn and I harvest and clear spent crops from my beds, I am looking at an increasing number of empty spaces. Some of these gaps w … Read more

Site Vegetables are expected to give a lot. We want them to grow quickly and provide good quantities of nutritious food. To do this we need to pamper them a … Read more

An Introduction to School Vegetable Growing School vegetable growing is becoming more popular with the increased emphasis on healthy eating both at … Read more

Using school raised garden beds We would strongly recommend using timber raised vegetable beds for your school garden for a number of reasons, the biggest f … Read more

The soil or compost you use in your school vegetable garden is the single most important part of the project. Vegetables are demanding as plants go, after all we … Read more

Be Realistic! I'd give the same advice to any new gardener - to start small with easy to grow crops. A school vegetable garden also has the holidays t … Read more

Wheatgrass is a tricky one to pin down. Many people I've spoken with swear by it while others will dismiss it as utter nonsense. It is claimed to be an energy bo … Read more

I'm sure most of you have already heard of G.I.Y. or 'Grow It Yourself', indeed many of you are probably members so we'll go for a brief intro for those who h … Read more

It is rare that my wife and I agree on anything but I was pleasantly surprised when my liking for pickled vegetables converged neatly with her interest in the he … Read more

When we move towards the end of July and into early August, it can be easy to think that the time for sowing new crops has passed. To be fair that's true f … Read more

England, like any country, has its pro's and con's but I thought I had died and gone to heaven when I discovered many pubs over there are furnished with an enorm … Read more

Healthy vegetables need a healthy soil, it's as simple as that. It is possible to grow vegetables in poor soil by using artificial fertilizers but the quality … Read more

While it is most commonly visualised as a bright red vegetable, there is a delightful amount of variety when it comes to growing your own radish. For simpl … Read more

Harvesting homegrown vegetables can be just as important as growing them as some crops can quickly go past their best and loose precious flavour and texture. Har … Read more

What is Square Foot Gardening? Square foot gardening is a method of growing vegetables which centers around planting crops in blocks rather than rows. The s … Read more

Mothers Day 2015 Mothers Day 2015 is on sunday the 15th of March in Ireland. It is one of those days that lands on a different date each year, which … Read more

Well, it's been a while. I always have great intentions to write more articles every month but time seems to slip by so easily with the day to day business at Qu … Read more

Urban Planters / Container Gardening for vegetable growers. An image blog post. Wooden Wine Boxes make great little planters for herbs and salads. Vertical farm … Read more

A Protective Seaweed Mulch I took the opposite photo in early January, it's frosty seaweed obviously but it's in my garden rather than on the beach. I prepared … Read more

One of the things first time vegetable gardeners ask about when they call or email us is tomatoes - everyone wants to grow their own tomatoes. This is a bit unfo … Read more

Here at Quickcrop HQ we propagate large amounts of vegetable seedlings in the early spring, so we need some heat to get them going. Clearly a heated propagator … Read more

If you're staring off your vegetable plants in early Spring you'll need to give them some heat as temperatures will be too cold for the seeds to germinate. If … Read more

Tomatoes are easy to grow and are becoming a more and more popular crop. A couple of tomato plants will produce hundreds of fruit and keep you in fresh tomatoe … Read more

There's something quite pleasant about raking up Autumn leaves, it feels like such an ancient, seasonal practice that it connects you not only with the current y … Read more

I rarely get out these days but myself and Niall always try to squeeze in a relaxing pint on a Friday evening. Pubs whether you like or loath them are great p … Read more

We had a lot of emails regarding the supply of dry firewood after a mail I sent out about wicker wood and turf baskets. Niall did a fair bit of legwork and th … Read more

I don't think I ever showed you my garden did I? It was originally put together as the shared Quickcrop garden but since the business moved from my house this … Read more

As I've mentioned in my bee article I have accidentally ended up with a hive of bees. This is all fine and well but clearly I need to learn a lot more about t … Read more

I asked my wife Siobhan to have a go at documenting her chutney making endeavours with the following results, go Siobhan!The English made chutneys their own afte … Read more

Everyone who has grown potatoes will have heard of potato blight, it's the most serious disease affecting potatoes and one which is almost impossible not to g … Read more

"How times have changed regarding the use of wild foods in our diet, since Wild and Free:  Cooking from Nature, written by my late husband, Cyril and I was … Read more

I was working my way around my garden yesterday, checking on things and harvesting a bit of this and a bit of that. As I worked my way through a few small job … Read more

If your garden is anything like mine you've been reaping the rewards of the good weather with a fantastic crop of fresh vegetables. So much worked for me this ye … Read more

I always liked beetroot anyway but since my wife started making a salad with roasted beetroot and feta cheese my interest in growing them reached new heights. I … Read more

If you read any of the guff I write you will probably have heard me mention Charles Dowding before. He's a bit of a hero of mine basically because his book 'Orga … Read more

You may remember we reported from the West Cork Garlic Farm earlier in the year. It's a project we're very excited about as it gives us a source of Irish produce … Read more

We always get loads of calls in August / September looking for overwintering vegetable seedlings. Of course I'm delighted as we do a great range of vegetables fo … Read more

Ingredients 4 litres hot water 700g sugar Juice and zest of four lemons 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar About 15 elderower heads, in full bloom A pinch o … Read more

I had a call from Dermot Carey (my personal vegetable guru) over the weekend as he wanted to pick up a couple of rolls of fleece. "I hope you don't mind me calli … Read more

O.K., so you've managed to get your seedling plants off to a good start (or have bought in some promising looking specimens). You have hardened them off and are … Read more

.Buying plug plants is the key to easy vegetable growing as veg seedlings already started cut out a lot of the tricky stuff that can put off a novice grower. … Read more

To compliment Dorcas Barry's great energy boosting smoothie featured in this months newsletter I'm covering the leafy green part of the recipe to show just ho … Read more

If you're getting a bit upset that the vegetable growing season is over you might like to try growing some sprouting seeds. O.K. they're never going to replace a … Read more

When Dorcas Barry agreed to contribute to our blog I couldn't believe my luck. I met Dorcas at the G.I.Y. (Grow It Yourself) gathering in Waterford last year whe … Read more

The number of people having a go at producing some of there own fresh produce is on the increase every year. The latest revolution is the small space urban g … Read more

Slug control is an on-going battle for us gardeners, and it seems that you are never quite free of them. It doesn't help at all that they are hermaphr … Read more

You know when you meet someone at a party who you've never met before you have to try quite hard not to ask them what they 'do' to get the conversation going? Si … Read more

If you don't have a patch of soil to grow in then clearly you will have to grow your vegetables in a container of some sort. A container grown urban garden ad … Read more

Fiona Dillon is, amongst many other things, an expert poultry keeper so I thought I'd give her a call to get the '123' for any first timers (or those int … Read more

What is a Polytunnel?A polytunnel is an elongated, semi circular-shaped tunnel made out of polyethylene. They come in a wide variety of sizes, and they can be s … Read more

Marina Kessopersadh of Iona Herbal contacted us about one of her courses she's running on Saturday April the 6th and the 20th in North Sligo. I thought it l … Read more

Plant protection is the practice of managing weather, weeds, pests and diseases that damage or inhibit the growth of fruit, vegetable and other horticultural cro … Read more

My vegetable growing career took a serious shot in the arm when Niall and myself started Quickcrop. This was mainly due to our association with two of the bes … Read more

Leeks are a very easy and rewarding crop to grow. They are such a welcome vegetable in Autumn and Winter and add interest and colour to your garden with their … Read more

I spent last Summer dreading weeding my vegetable garden as time pressure meant the hoe didn't get used as much as it should. I'm not the best weeder in the w … Read more

West Cork Garlic is a new enterprise which has undertaken the risky business of growing garlic commercially in the Irish climate.Axel and Marye Miret of Enniskea … Read more

I posted an 'info graphic' (which I did myself) on facebook the other day illustrating that an acre of land could support 20 families in vegetables but just t … Read more

I had the pleasure of a few very sweet pints of the black stuff with vegetable gardening genius Dermot Carey the other night. Growing food runs deep in Dermot's … Read more

In answer to a number of queries on how to get started as a new vegetable gardener here's a few of my top tips to get you going: What do you like eating … Read more