fruit growing

Every cloud has a silver lining, as they say. So while your growing season shuts down around now, another window opens as we enter bare root fruit season. Growi...

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...

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...

I know I have looked at soil and plant feeds a number of times over the years but, for the benefit of new growers, I think it may be helpful to cover it again...

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...

Fruit trees and bushes are planted in the garden with the intention of being around for the long haul, providing harvests for many years. In return for this sup...

Courgettes are easy to grow with two plants producing ample courgettes for most families. Courgettes are best picked small for best flavour, these plants are...

Unlike other countries in the world, we just don't get the weather to grow chilli peppers successfully outdoors. It is possible but the results and cropping lev...

In our culture of instant gratification, it can sometimes be difficult to do something in the garden now when it won't give you any reward till next year. Fru...

Gooseberry Bushes How to grow gooseberries. Ranging from huge, juicy, red dessert fruit to tiny, sparkling, golden drops of sweetness, gooseberries are a great...

Growing Peppers Peppers and chillis are expensive when bought in the shops so growing your own is an economical exercise which also brings great pleasure. They...

Squash plants are closely related to cucumbers, courgettes and marrows, and are a member of the same family, curcurbit. Squash plants come in a variety of sha...

Blueberries are delicious and extremely high in antioxidants which is why it is regarded as a super food. Plants are easy to grow provided you use an acidi...

If you read last week's post you will know we talked about adding wood ash around gooseberry plants. I had a couple of emails asking if wood ash can be used arou...

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 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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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 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'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...

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...

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...