Swede is one of the easiest vegetables to grow and is well-suited to the novice gardener. They also crop over a very long time because they can be left in the soil throughout the winter.  ... … How To Grow Swede

Hi there and a Happy New Year to you all! So, Andrew asked me to do a series of articles about nutrition and everyday health, I’m a Nutritional Therapist so I guess he thought I'd be a good person to ... … Functional Nutrition Basics Part 1 - Weight Loss

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 but also I hope you find it more engagin ... … The Vegetable Garden in March 2016

Growing Vegetables places more strain on a piece of land than flowering plants or shrubs because we remove nutrients every time we harvest a crop. Vegetables are also relatively hungry plants requiri ... … Crop Rotation

Last season I trialled sending trays of some of the more unusual cosmos varieties as seedling plug plants. The exercise went an absolute bomb, with the whole lot sold and people still talking a ... … A Guide to Growing Cosmos

Most people think of a small, round, pink variety when picturing a radish, usually either sliced or added whole to a garden salad. You may also remember the humble radish cut in an 'artistic' f ... … How To Grow Radishes

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 has also warmed enough for weeds ... … The Vegetable Garden in May

Even though it's a mild early Spring so far it's still too cold to plant anything outside. Even if we're sowing inside there are very few things we can get started and they will need to be sown on ... … February garden advice

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 year it was almost as if someone else to ... … Harvest Time Heroes

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 looked pretty cool, as I love the idea ... … Wild Irish Medicinal Herbs - Coltsfoot

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 best growers in the country, Dermot Carey ... … Sowing seed in modular trays

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 being cooked or chopped. It may be the ... … The Health Benefits of Garlic

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 beds from heavy rain and generally put ... … October 2020 in the Quickcrop Garden

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 world (I find it pretty boring) and can e ... … Sow Easy Grow - Grow Grid

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 outdoors can be demolished overnight by ... … Sowing Vegetable Seeds in Early Spring

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 is why it is easily forgotten about.&n ... … Top 10 Mothers Day Gardening Gifts 2015

Everyone seems to be talking about trees these days and with good reason. They are one of the single most effective ways to take carbon out of the atmosphere and help slow global warming. Trees also ... … A Guide To Planting Bare Root Trees

Honestly, do you ever think about how weird it is that ‘pond life’ has become a derogatory phrase and insult, when actual pond life contains some of the most fascinating and beautiful cr ... … How To Create a Wildlife Friendly Pond

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 visual appeal. This can be done just af ... … What Is The Best Finish for Garden Furniture?

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 garden tools for vegetable growing. We supp ... … Essential Garden Tools

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 where she was talking about fresh and hea ... … Green Smoothies with Dorcas Barry

Check out the healthiest pint you'll ever drink, perfectly poised on our timber bed only inches away from the luscious leaves from which it's made. This is the new pint, it's a pint for the modern ag ... … Natures Red Bull

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 broad selection of varieties with the i ... … Tips on sprouting or 'chitting' seed potatoes

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 after the traders brought back these exoti ... … Making Chutneys

How to grow daikon radishes. Daikon is a long, white variety of radish. Also known as white radish, mooli or Oriental radish, daikon radishes can grow over a foot long. They have a crispy texture, ... … How To Grow Diakon Radish

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 growing, tending to plants, irrigation ... … The Ultimate Guide to Vegetable Harvesting Part 2

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. As you probably know, digging saturated ... … How To Plant a Bare Root Hedge

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 or heat mat isn't really practical whe ... … How to Make a Heat Bench Propagator Using a Soil Warming Cable

When you see someone with glowing skin, it stands out but not all of us are blessed with radiant, flawless skin. There are millions of products available we can slather, scrub and rub into our skin o ... … Functional Nutrition Basics Part 4 - Skin Health

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 each. The whole thing is incredible r ... … How to Start Seedlings Indoors

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 to entertain, have guests around for a ... … Garden Party Furniture

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 frost. From our point of view, they are ... … How To Plant an Attractive Succulent Display

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 warm Winter so far. We can all be guil ... … Vegetable Garden in January

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 nice day yesterday that we took the came ... … The Quickcrop Vegetable Garden in Early June

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 most gardens but what you need to be ca ... … Planting Potatoes in March

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 of useful information. If there is a me ... … Fish for Small Garden Ponds

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 learning experience will cover all the cr ... … New Quickcrop Vegetable Growers Course

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 compilation of 366 entries (one for every d ... … An Irish Nature Year - Jane Powers

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) while at the same time producing your ... … Hungry Bin vs Hotbin (Composter Comparison)

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 able to withstand all kinds of weather ... … How To Secure A Polytunnel To the Ground

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 garden starts to fill up. As you know I of ... … What to sow in late May and early June

Hi folks, I hope you all had a good Easter break. I don't know what the weather has been like for you but we have had a very pleasant few days with warm sunshine and a definite whiff of Spring. While ... … The Vegetable Garden in April 2021

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've been packing orders in the warehous ... … March 2020 Vegetable Garden Update

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 composters. This the area where my old ... … How do I make my own wooden compost bin?

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 polytunnel. Sowing times will differ dependin ... … Getting the season under way

Lettuce is a favourite in the garden because it is relatively easy to grow, is one of the first crops that can be planted, and is one of the first crops to yield in the spring. It doesn’t tak ... … How To Grow Lettuce

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 around the country. Dermot works as a con ... … Burtown Kitchen Garden Diary - Dividing and Planting Rhubarb

I had always read Jane Powers' Irish Times articles with interest so I was quite excited when I answered the phone one day and found herself on the other end. She was doing an article on raised be ... … A drop of Powers: an interview with Jane Powers

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 Spring (it used to be housed in my ba ... … My Vegetable Garden in October

If you were alive 144 million years ago, you wouldn't need to worry about providing winter food for wild birds, because you would have been on the menu yourself. It might be hard to believe whe ... … Winter Bird Care

Kohlrabi sports a rosette of blueish-green leaves above a swollen stem. This almost globe-like stem makes it appear like a turnip growing on a cabbage root, in fact In German, Kohl means cabbage a ... … How To Grow Kohl Rabi

I can't tell you how much of a relief it is that the weather has warmed a little and that there is no frost forecast for this week. As you may know I am filming our new vegetable growing course this ... … Growing Peas and Beans in the Quickcrop Garden

March can be a deceptive month. The season is clearly starting to turn with warmer days, grass beginning to grow and buds opening on fruit bushes, yet it is still too early to sow most outdoor ... … The Vegetable Garden in March

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 hopefully offer some advice on some of my frui ... … The Quickcrop Vegetable Garden in August

The rewilding movement has picked up pace and momentum in recent years. In short, the idea behind rewilding is that we humans take a step back and allow nature to reclaim large or small areas of lan ... … How To Rewild Your Garden

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 but all that is going to change now I ... … Fabulous and Funky Fermented Foods

'Cavolo Nero' or 'Nero Di Toscana' is the only kale grown in Italy, simply because it is by far the best tasting kale. Its large strap like leaves are fantastic in a stir fry with excellent taste ... … How To Grow Kale (Italian)

Lovely long slender stems, this variety makes a lovely, tasty baby leek for harvesting from mid summer onward. The flavour is no less impressive when eaten full size in the autumn. The leek is a g ... … How To Grow Leeks

In recent years more and more households - both rural and urban - have decided to keep backyard chickens or poultry. As well as being a source of ‘homemade’ fresh eggs, it’s something tha ... … A Beginner's Guide to Keeping Chickens

Seeing your vegetable crops decimated by garden pests can be a very disheartening sight, and it can happen seemingly overnight if proper preventative methods aren't applied. Once the garden pes ... … Identifying Common Garden Pests

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 will also look at preparing the soil, w ... … How To Build and Install Raised Garden Beds

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 most things, with the garden now in ... … Asian Greens for Autumn Sowing

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