blog

When it comes to watering the vegetable garden, convenience and automation has a lot going for it, but it’s not the be all and end all. Being a gardening...

Butterflies are one of the most charismatic of all garden visitors, with their vividly coloured wings and elegant flight arcs. Species like Red Admiral, Peacock...

Why should I use a raised bed?I guess the best place to get started is why should I grow in raised beds in the first place? For me, growing in raised beds was m...

As you will know if you read last week’s mail, we kicked off our winter plant biology series with roots (I was going from the bottom up), but, in retrospect...

As we slip into the cooler weather of October there is very little we can sow now (apart from some cold tolerant Asian salads) so, as per last week's...

Right, well it's started to get a bit cold and the leaves are falling so I suppose we will have to admit that winter is coming. I have mentioned it here before...

Growing garlic is both easy and satisfying: it's well-suited to both the first time gardener and the more experienced. A haul of freshly harvested garlic is a b...

It’s always fun to learn about and experiment with a new gardening technique. Olla pots (and the unique way that they work) aren’t exactly new thoug...

You've probably seen the word 'sustainable' a fair bit, but we wouldn't blame you if you're not entirely sure what it means. With the way it's used, it can some...

The Cucumber incident Did I tell you I'm now on TikTok? Despite not really knowing what TikTok is, I made my debut on the controversial social media platform a...

A neat, well-maintained lawn is still considered a cornerstone of an appealing outdoor space. It provides a space for children to play, pets to chase after a ba...

If you’re new to the whole world of ‘sitting in a heated room to relax’, it may not be immediately clear what the difference is between a sauna and a steam...

The sauna can be a terrific place to unwind, rejuvenate or socialise. It’s a place you want to retreat to so you can take your mind off daily stresses. Having sa...

I had quite a few emails following my previous article on  mycogardening (gardening with fungi) and on my plans to make my garden more biodiverse, so I tho...

Aphids are the source of much frustration in the garden. Also referred to as greenfly or blackfly, these small sap-sucking insects feed on ornamental plants and...

Kicking back and relaxing in your home sauna is going to be much easier once you know that everything is working smoothly and the structure is in good cond...

Once you have your home sauna set up, you may be wondering what else you will need to optimise your sauna bathing sessions. The answer is not a whol...

If you’ve ever had the pleasure of using a sauna, you’ll know that it can be a serene experience. The heat relaxes your muscles and eases body tension....

Look, we don’t blame you if you get a bit sceptical when someone goes on about the positive health effects that a particular activity might have. This is d...

Barrel saunas are a stylish, modern type of wooden sauna with a distinctive, rounded barrel shape. The curved walls actively help to trap the heat inside...

Regular readers will have heard me mention my farmer friend Clive Bright before (aka 'The Rare Ruminare'). He farms his 50 or so acres of Sligo countryside...

‘French Intensive Gardening’. Sounds kind of daunting, who wants gardening to be intensive? Me, I like to do a little burst of work here and there and take it ea...

Edible landscaping or foodscaping is the practice of interspersing ornamental plant displays with edible crops, often in a way that creates a lush and colour...

Garden arches are a great way of adding some vertical character to your garden or outdoors. They can be used to provide support for climbing plants or serve as a...

It's hardly worth me pointing out that it's been hot and dry at this stage of the game, but as weather conditions have such a big impact on the garden that's wh...

Put that shovel away! No dig gardening continues to grow in popularity with home growers and gardeners, but what does it actually involve? Will you need to sell...

I suspect I'm not the only one but I am fighting a battle (and losing) with the quite unbelievable number of slugs I have this year. You can see them in the p...

The news from the Quickcrop garden could be described as 'mixed'. Outside, a mind boggling amount of slugs continue to eat everything in sight despite my b...

In a perfect world, there’d be plenty of room for gardens, greenery and foliage to exist in harmony with us as we go about our day-to-day lives. However, urbanis...

Vegan gardening has a lot of overlap with organic or no-dig gardening. However, the ways in which it differs are related to the principles of veganism itse...

Garden furniture is often designed or bought with relaxation or solitary ‘me time’ in mind, but that’s far from the only option. The garden can be a great place...

I am not someone who is very keen on getting up at 5 am on a Sunday morning but last weekend I found myself sitting blinking in the car three and half hour...

What is Meant By Organic Gardening? You will no doubt have often heard the term 'organic gardening'. What it actually means - or how strict the definition is -...

They may not be the first thing you think of when planning a vegetable garden, but herbs are very easy and rewarding to grow. They provide a rich array of optio...

I was over at the nursery yesterday morning (pinching a few trees to replace some of my ash that had to come down) and took a few photos as it all looked so b...

Hugelkultur is a form of raised bed gardening using layers of organic material. We previously discussed keyhole gardening on the blog, and hugelkultur gardening...

Just to let you all know that we're in the middle of a project to rebuild our Quickcrop seed range at the moment - as well as providing more comprehensive info o...

So, how is everyone feeling with the improvement in the weather? I for one am feeling pretty good about it. I don't know what the temperatures were like wh...

Having some kind of automatic system set up to irrigate your plants is beneficial for a number of reasons: It frees you up to take care of other garden...

The garden isn’t just for working in - it’s also a great place to sit and gather your thoughts, soak in the ambience of nature, or relax in the outdoors wi...

One of the key differences between growing plants inside and growing them outside in your garden is that indoor plants don’t benefit from rainfall. As such...

A high yield vegetable is one that produces a large amount of end product per area of planting. ‘Output’ shouldn’t be seen as the be all and end all of growing y...

With rising energy bills being the reality these days, many people will want to avoid the expense of trying to heat a greenhouse by using storage or paraff...

A finish generally refers to a coating which you can apply to your garden furniture to add extra protection, improve its weather resistance or retain its v...

Outdoor or patio furniture makes for a great addition to your garden, allowing you to spend time in the fresh air with family or just sit and soak in the s...

Whether learning by experience or by reading up, you’ll soon come to realise that - for the most part - there are no hard and fast rules for gardening. Th...

‘Rainwater harvesting’ can refer to something as simple as leaving a barrel out to collect rainwater or to comprehensive systems that provide water...

Home composting is a fantastic way of killing two birds with one stone. You can process garden and kitchen waste (and reduce your bin collection costs)...

The greenhouse has a long and interesting history. Did you know that a proto-greenhouse structure was designed by the Romans to support Emperor Tiberius's...

When it comes to dealing with garden pests, the enclosed space of the polytunnel can be something of a double-edged sword. On the one hand, your crops are p...

When setting up your polytunnel, it's important to make sure that it's fixed securely to the ground. It's a long-term structure and you want it to be...

Whatever style of greenhouse you opt for - whether it’s a ‘lean-to’, a compact house or a larger one - it will open up new possibilities for you and extend...

Polytunnels are designed to draw in and retain heat, and they tend to do this job very well. This means that you will need a method of cooling your tunnel down...

Whether it’s homegrown or store-bought, compost plays a vital role in the health of your soil, and healthy soil makes for healthy plant growth. But you ma...

Water is one of the most crucial building blocks for plant growth. The rest of the ‘Big 5’ consists of oxygen, light, favourable temperature and nutrients. Inter...

Greenhouses are designed to draw in and capture heat. This is for the benefit of your plants, but it’s a blessing that can soon turn into a curse if you allow te...

The unique selling point of the Vegepod is that it combines some of the benefits of raised bed gardening with those of growing under cover or in a cont...

There are no bounds when it comes to creativity when it comes to gardening, and the keyhole garden is a pretty neat example. This raised bed method of grow...

If you're looking for a composting solution that's somewhere between a traditional static pile and the larger insulated composters, The Thermo range of composter...

A greenhouse can open up possibilities for you and extend your growing season. It mainly does this by increasing levels of heat and light: an effect brought abou...

One of the stereotypical images that might spring to mind when you think of someone gardening is someone on their hands and knees with a trowel. After all, the s...

We pay them scant attention and know so little about them, yet fungi are critical to our survival. They support us indirectly by recycling carbon rich orga...

The trouble with pots and planters made from ceramic or stone is that they are heavy (extremely heavy if we're talking about stone), and can split in a heavy fr...

Whether you're (a) looking for a gift for the gardening enthusiast in your life or (b) you want to leave some heavy hints lying around about what you yourself...

Here begins Part 2 of our guide to vegetable harvesting, going in neat alphabetical order. Knowing when to harvest can be just as important in its own way as...

Those of you who are subscribed to our newsletter may already be familiar with this A-Z guide that I've been gradually putting together. It's easy to find sowin...

So, the other week I had an email from a customer asking for advice on what soil mix to use for planting fruit trees in containers. It was a simple question w...

While a greenhouse shouldn’t need to be cleaned quite as much as a 'human house', it is very important to schedule a good cleaning session once or twice...

Preparing your soil is an important step that shouldn’t be skipped when setting up your first polytunnel. Trying to do intensive digging or soil amendment...

Polytunnels are designed to be durable structures, and you can expect the polythene cover itself to last for a good 4-5 years before it needs replacing....

A greenhouse is very effective at what it does, but to keep it working to the best of its abilities you should keep on top of any maintenance issues that m...

Saving your own vegetable seeds in order to plant them again the following year (or even later) is a very worthwhile and rewarding activity - make no mista...

Where you position your polytunnel will ultimately depend on the space you have available, but there are some important factors to take into account. Good posit...

Crop rotation is a system of moving the position of certain crops (or families of crops) around so that they are not being grown in the same soil for successive...

Generally speaking, you won’t need planning permission for a polytunnel that’s used to grow your own food in a domestic garden. There are some excep...

Garden 'pests' are the scourge of many a gardener - it can feel like they’re taunting you and all your careful work as they infest, burrow into and dev...

Persuading children to eat vegetables can be a task and a half. It’s not just stubbornness either: research shows that kids’ taste buds are simply more rec...

If you're just thinking about starting your first vegetable garden, you might feel like you've missed the boat or that it's the wrong time of year. Fair enough:...

The humble cucumber is perhaps the single most popular food to use for pickles, so much so that over in the States the word ‘pickle’ pretty much means ‘pic...

Greenhouses and polytunnels are both structures that allow for regulation of climate and enable you to grow a wider range of vegetables, fruits and plants than...

Tomatoes can be grown in containers like pots, planters, growbags, and hanging baskets, they may not be the easiest plant to grow at home but they are definitely...

Why grow your own food? It's a fair question to ask. 'Fruits and vegetables aren't that expensive in the first place', you might say. 'It's time-consuming', you...

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...

I am excited about this week's post because I am covering one of my favourite subjects, fermented food. To be fair, I am a lot better at eating it than making it...

As the garden is currently in the process of springing into life and we have 'work' to do, it might be a good idea to have a look at some of the essential garde...

This week I am taking a break from vegetable growing as I have been working on some new flowering perennial planting plans both for the site and for my back gard...

I don't know what it has been like for you, but March has been a relatively dry month in my garden which meant I was able to do a bit more outside than...

It is still early days for sowing but there are a few plants that you can start off now, especially if you are lucky enough to have a greenhouse or polytun...

Last week the blog included some tips on starting a new vegetable garden and, judging by the emails I received (thank you), a number of you found it very help...

A new year brings with it the temptation to try something new in the garden, overhaul your growing space or simply fine-tune the way that you do things. Ga...

As we are probably all itching to begin the growing season, I thought it might be helpful to talk about starting seeds off early and how to give the best chance...

I'm not sure what the weather is like where you are but it has been dry in the Quickcrop garden for the last week, which means the soil is dry enough to work. A...

Well, here we go again, another new year and another new season beginning in the vegetable garden! I really do love the fresh start a new season brings. Past blu...

For me potatoes are the backbone of the vegetable garden. If you get the seed potatoes in relatively early, there is very little to do apart from earthing up an...

Broad beans are the simplest thing to grow. They are hardy and produce a large crop of delicious beans. I prefer to pick them young for a sweeter bean which are...

Runner beans, or 'scarlet runners', are native to central and northern South America, where they were seen as one of the 'Three Sisters', a famous companion plan...

Why not plant an exotic variety of cucumber in your garden this season and perk up those summer salads! Cool, crisp cucumbers from the garden are perfect in summ...

Recommended Varieties: Hispi F1 Where to grow: Cabbage needs a fertile moisture retentive soil with good drainage. The cabbages will remain in the...

Cabbage is a demanding plant both is the amount of nutrients it needs and the space it takes up in the garden. It really is easy to grow if you feed your soil...