Blog

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...

I spent a good bit of time in the vegetable garden this weekend as the skies were blue for a change which made working outdoors a pleasure. I was also able to...

Seeing your vegetable crops decimated by garden pests can be a very disheartening sight, and it can happen seemingly overnight if proper preventative metho...

Irrigation is essential to the development and healthy growth of most garden crops; however, it can be very easy to overdo it. Individual plant needs may differ...

You have to hand it to garlic for it’s sheer audacity, showboating through the kitchen, loving the attention it gets as its aroma permeates everything whether...

Perennial Weeds Perennial weeds come up every year from the same plant and are difficult to get rid of but not as hard as they are often made our to be. Most hav...

Perfectly healthy plants can be affected by air, water or soil borne diseases at any time. Understanding the causes, identifying them early and taking effecti...

Common garden weeds are a large part of our gardens, and need to be identified before they manage to sow seed and multiply. If you keep a strict and thorough wee...

Unusually for me I found myself in not one, but two fancy restaurants at the weekend (it was my Mother's birthday) both of which presented me with pea shoots...

Garden soil can differ greatly in terms of consistency, texture and nutrient content. By identifying and understanding the type of soil you have, you can then t...

For the home gardener there is absolutely nothing more important than their soil. Soil is the life blood of the garden and its makeup will have a big influence...

The unwelcome garden visitors that come back every year. Here's a rundown of who they are and how to send them away. SlugsThese garden molluscs, al...

This March I am starting a new monthly update project which is centered more around what I'm doing in my garden. This is because it's easier for me to write bu...

With so many available options causing confusion for novice gardeners here are some simple suggestions for anyone planning to grow vegetables. Herb Garden...

1 PlanningDecide what you want to do with your vegetable garden and spend time working out the best way to achieve it. There are so many choices –fruit or veg...

What kinds of things can you do in the garden at this time of year. It’s not quite Spring after all? Well, no, we’ve still a long way to go before we get to...

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...

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...

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

'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...

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 wi...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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. Home...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

What is 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 the soil. Neutral is in...

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...

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...

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

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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,...

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...

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 will b...

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...

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

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 for m...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 get....

"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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

Overwintering can be a very useful garden planning method, making more efficient use of space and leading to early spring harvests. However, sometimes beginner g...

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...

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...

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...

.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....

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...

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...

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...

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 gard...