Blog

As you may know from last week's communication I have been having a very enjoyable time reading Jane Powers' new book 'An Irish Nature Year'. The book is a compi...

Succulent plants make ideal indoor displays so are a great winter project (or present!) for anyone who its itching to do a bit of gardening. Plants are easy and...

Last week I filmed the first in a series of over 200 videos which will become the backbone of our new Quickcrop vegetable growers course. This epic lea...

While I am not a fan of of winter I do enjoy preparing for it. There is great satisfaction in harvesting and storing crops in October, protecting...

My apologies for not posting last week, I am afraid drawing up planting plans and adding them as products to the site has taken a lot longer than I tho...

This week I thought we would take a break from vegetables and look instead at the flowering garden. Some of you may remember my ambitious plans earlier in the ye...

It is incredible just how fast the season slips by, I can't believe it's September already! The final part of the season got away from me a bit (broken coll...

Mackerel sky Before we get going, here's a photo I took on Monday morning while out walking the dog showing a pretty 'mackerel sky' which, as you know, signals...

I don't know what the season has been like for you but thanks to a warm and dry early summer followed by some welcome rain, my garden is looking vibrant&nbs...

Right then. For the last while I have been both adding to our list of flowering perennial plants and working on planting plants and corresponding plant packs. As...

I thought we'd start the garden update with a couple of photos taken last evening while having a walk on a local bog. The photo above is of Eriophorum angus...

The transition from May to June is a fantastic time in the vegetable garden as the crops you have planted or sown start to put on some proper growth and the gard...

I made a vow to myself last week that I would go at least a month without including a photo of my tractor in these emails. As you see above I have failed already...

Victory gardens are fruit and vegetable gardens grown by the public both at home and in a community setting. In times of war huge pressure is put on the fo...

We recently decided to tackle some of the gardening FAQs that we get asked most frequently on this blog. Can I grow vegetables indoors? is one of those questions...

As we move towards the beginning of May, things really start to move in the vegetable garden. Up until this point there have been very few seeds we can sow outsi...

Garden Update I am making some progress in the garden this week with a few tips coming to mind which hopefully you will find helpful.The first tip I have is get...

I am afraid we have had to close the Quickcrop site for 3 days and not taking any new orders until Friday. As I think I explained last week we are down to a smal...

Well, hello there folks. That's been a strange couple of weeks hasn't it? I apologise for the late mail but I have had the luminous vest on since last week as I'...

Due to a relatively dry end to last week I had thought the worst of the weather was over. I said as much on Facebook (and nearly caused an International incident...

Despite the fact that I am usually busy enough in the polytunnel in late Winter (sowing sweet peas, peppers, broad beans etc....), it is not until I sow my t...

Timetable for growing tomatoes: a summary of a decade of learningI started growing tomatoes in the wet summer of 2009 and was (quite frankly) not very success...

As bin charges increase and households try to be more environment friendly, we are seeing a corresponding increase in home composting. We have been interested i...

Not too chilly for growing chillies! You don't need me to tell you that we are having a wet and windy February. So far we have dealt with high winds and heavy...

The vegetable garden is still pretty quiet this week, so I thought we would return to ornamental gardening and look at some of the plans for my garden and some i...

While we are now heading in the right direction in terms of day length, February is still a very cold month - with little we can sow or plant outside. There are...

As I mentioned in my mail the week before last, I have a lot planned for the garden this year and just to prove it wasn't a load of old waffle I include some pho...

I am not sure what it's like with you but we have had some real January weather over the weekend with some hard overnight frosts. A hard frost ads a touch...

Like you, I am itching to get outside and can't wait for the season to get started. This year I will be spending more time in the garden as my output of video an...

One of the best (and the most fun) ways to make compost is back! Innovators that we are, we had taken in a small stock of these sturdy compost bins last year but...

I took a few photos while the sun was out at the weekend which I might as well show you. Above you can see the beds covered in seaweed which has started to rot d...

As you will know from my fascinating communication a week or so ago we are now in the season for putting in bare root plants including fruit trees, hedging and r...

While you won't be able to fool yourself that you are lying on a beach with a pina colada (Ingredients: 3 parts Pineapple juice, 1 part White rum, 1 part Coconut...

You might remember from a post a few weeks back that we are now manufacturing the fabulous 'Gro-Grid' weed control planting mat. We have the machinery set up in...

After a wet week last week, the weekend looked promising (well, Sunday at least) to get some work done in the garden and start preparing it for the Winter. As yo...

The Painted Lady is a very interesting butterfly due to the vast migratory path that it traces and the fact that record numbers have been reported in the UK and...

It is has been an interesting year in the Quickcrop garden with a hot and dry start followed by plenty of rain. The overcast or rainy days have not been much use...

I thought we'd do one last 'Friday Facts' on unsung pollinator heroes before moving on to another subject next week. Today I am taking a quick look at moths as t...

This Friday I thought we'd continue looking at pollinators as we had such a good response from our first 'Friday Facts' on solitary bees. Solitary bees tend to b...

I spent most of last weekend loafing around Kent and Sussex as I was keen to visit a few gardens while the season still has some life left in it. One of the high...

Green Manures Green manures are 'crops' which are sown to cover bare soil and do a number of jobs depending on the species like protecting soil, storing nitroge...

I don't know whether you know this already but of the 267 species of bee in the U.K. and Ireland, 90% of them are solitary bees. Solitary bees don't produce...

We build a relationship with tomatoes unlike almost any other plant in our vegetable garden, as they need such constant and varying care. We start off the seeds...

We are taking a break from the vegetable garden this week and looking at some wild flowers as they are often far prettier than anything in the garden. This week'...

I did manage to do a test build of our new fruit cage system over the weekend. The photo above shows the frame without the net obviously but this is simply att...

Following on from last week's post I thought we would continue with more planting tips, this time on tomatoes as I put some in my tunnel at the weekend. As regar...

Brace yourselves folks, we are now entering the busiest time of year in the vegetable garden. The soil has warmed sufficiently for sowing and planting out but ha...

My recent bedtime reading has been 'The Blind Watchmaker' by evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins - and I am now suffering sleep deprivation because the book...

Depending on your location early potatoes are planted in mid March once the days begin to warm. To be fair, the soil is probably warm enough to plant now in m...

Small Garden Ideas Vegetable growing should be available to anyone even if you have have a very small urban garden or no garden at all. Small urban gardens can...

Weeding the garden is an ongoing process that never seems to end and, of all the jobs in the garden, appears to be the most time consuming.  We ca...

The clocks haven’t yet gone back and the leaves are still on the trees but there is definitely a change in the light. I love my time spent in the garden and will...

It's the start of Autumn here and we’re clinging on to a vague suggestion of an Indian Summer. It's still dry enough to spend a bit of time in the garden and the...

The Quickcrop Garden Irrigation System can be adapted to suit a range of vegetable garden design layouts using a selection of connectors, hoses, valves and ti...

I took the above photo on Friday morning on the last day of my holidays. It shows Gurteen bay in Co. Galway on another gloriously sunny day. For the first time...

This year I have slowly begun to move my garden into the field in front of my house by extending the lawn and creating a new orchard. The area is small as fields...

Seeing as I mentioned my new orchard in the last post I might as well add a little information on caring for new fruit trees. Getting trees established well h...

After last weeks brilliant article on late sowings of peas and carrots I got a number of mails asking what other vegetables can be sown at this time of year. I a...

I have a soft spot for peas. They are easy to sow, look beautiful, are fascinating to observe as they climb and, of course, have a delicious sweet flavour. They...

I have two books which are my vegetable growing bibles. One is Joy Larkcom's 'Grow Your Own Vegetables' and the other is 'Organic Gardening - The Natural No-D...

How to prune Gooseberry bushes and currant bushes. Pruning fruit bushes can seem complicated but is, in fact, very simple. Many people are nervous about the proc...

I guess it is important to say from the outset that herbs are very easy to grow. Considering what they add in flavour - and how often you will use them - they a...

As you may know my preference for most plants is to sow indoors in modular trays as you have a much greater chance of success. Freshly germinated seeds sown o...

This article covers pruning old and neglected fruit trees, if you would like to learn how to prune younger or freshly planted trees please read ' An introdu...

This might seem like an odd time of year to talk about irrigation, but if you are thinking of adding a watering system to your polytunnel or greenhouse the...

It's always nice to see birds and other wildlife out in the garden until they start destroying crops. Shortly after sowing seeds, birds can become a problem in a...

This weekend showed some real promise with blue skies and the first fleeting traces of heat from the sun. As you see from the photo (taken on Sunday morning) the...

Onions have to be one of the easiest crops to grow and will reward you with delicious crisp bulbs with a homegrown flavour all their own. Onions can be grown fro...

Plant propagation is creating new plants from existing plants. This can be done using seeds or bulbs, by taking cuttings from existing plants, or by dividing ro...

As you can see from the image above our seed potatoes for this year have now arrived and are looking forward to going out to their new homes. We have the usual b...

Our Top Ten list of plant protection products for the vegetable garden. Plant protection is the practice of managing weather, weeds, pests and diseases that dama...

My weekend work for the last 2 weeks has been building our new fruit cage video location. The plan, as I think I mentioned in a previous mail, is to film a new s...

As you know the Quickcrop research bureau never sleeps. Our aim is provide you with the best products for your garden but also to back them up with plenty o...

I do love the colour of beetroot, its glorious deep fuschia just makes me feel good looking at it. Add chickpeas, oil, garlic, lemon and some ground cumin in t...

What to sow or plant in September - it's not too late! I have included below some good things to sow or plant out as vegetable seedlings in September. Most of t...

This week sees a whole new departure for the Quickcrop team as we stick our pretty little toes into the wonderful world of flowering plants. It is not that we h...

As you know my top priority is keeping you happy so when I noticed a sunny spell outside the office window I sped over to the Quickcrop garden to take some photo...

Flowering bulbs are ideal for container gardening or as part of a vibrant garden border. They are one of the easiest plants to grow and with a little careful pla...

July in the garden is a bit of a double edged sword, Mother nature shows her muscles both in the vigourous growth from your vegetable crops but also in the vigou...

Climbing peas and beans are some of my favourite crops in the vegetable garden. They epitomise summer with their attractive flowers and lush growth. There is so...

It might seem a bit premature talking about pest control in mid March as we have very little in the ground but I think it is worth learning how to avoid so...

A raised bed can provide the perfect environment for creating a herb garden. It can be positioned anywhere that suits you and can be maintained easily. A sele...

What can I sow or plant in my garden now? Everything! Well, pretty much everything. You will be too late to sow most warm climate crops which need a long gr...

Cultivating home grown vegetables is a simple pleasure that anyone can experience, even if you have limited space. We don’t all have the benefit of a large gar...

Why Compost in the first place? Composting is the best thing you can do for your vegetable garden. It is the natural process that returns the nutrients used by...

A plant seed is created to grow, and will perform that task admirably once given the opportunity. For successful germination seeds will need:  a suit...

This week we have our second installment of the Burtown Kitchen Garden Diary where we see Dermot building a new polytunnel on the site to broaden the choice of...

The Quickcrop Pea and Bean Frame is a support system designed for growing your own climbing garden peas and beans. Freshly picked home grown peas are one of t...

We are now moving into the time of year when we start to sow seeds (for those of you not reading this article 'hot from the oven' it is the beginning of Februa...

While I do spend plenty of happy time in the garden in January there really isn't a whole lot you can do other than preparing things for the season ahead. In m...

As you may know I keep in touch with Dermot Carey (ex head gardener at Lissadell House) and like to hear about the projects he is working on in his travels aro...

I am sure you are sick of seeing pictures of my potatoes by now but I ended up digging out another barrow full of them on Sunday while I prepared a bed for Summe...

You may remember some of the vibrant looking photos from my vegetable garden in the Summer with its neat (ish) rows of healthy crops and tidy weeded paths? Wel...

We can't all be blessed with a large outdoor garden space, and so it is that growing vegetables in containers can be an effective way of tackling spac...

Plant feed and fertilizers play a huge part in the garden, and as a company we only use natural and organic alternatives. Natural plant feed is a no-brainer in...

Towards the end of summer and into autumn, activity in the vegetable garden slows down as crops are fully grown and their fruit begins to ripen. Winter brassica...

If you have your own apple trees of any reasonable size you will know that despite your best intentions the only journey many of the apples make is when they...

If you are considering building a garden pond you may want to calculate the volume of water for water treatment or if you intend to introduce fish. Water treat...

Well, it's August again in the Quickcrop garden (and elsewhere I suspect) so I thought we'd take our customary stroll around to see what's growing and hopefull...