Klaus Laitenberger is the man behind'Green Seed Company' which is a select range of vegetable seeds picked for vigour, disease resistance and flavour. Klaus has also written our two favourite gardeni ... … Organic Gardening with Klaus Laitenberger

July is a fabulous time in the garden with so much glossy new growth and tasty young vegetables. Don't forget there is still plenty of things you can sow now, the warmer weather giving the added adva ... … Your garden in July

A polytunnel can really open up a world of growing possibilities, extending the growing season, providing extra shelter and increasing your chances of success with warm climate crops.  However, ... … The Best Crops to Grow in a Polytunnel

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 and gra ... … Vegetable Sowing and Planting Tips

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 down. It starts off a mustard brown col ... … Photos from the Quickcrop Garden in January

Mulching is the practice of covering the soil surface with a layer of material to protect your plants or to insulate or improve your garden soil. It’s a widely used technique in landscaping an ... … The Benefits of Mulching in the Garden

This week I thought I would concentrate on the polytunnel or greenhouse as there is a lot to be done in April both in terms of sowing new seed and in potting on tomato, chilli and sweet pepper plants ... … The Polytunnel in mid April 2021

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

It is conventional wisdom that you should discard used potting compost but, given that we are all trying to be more sustainable, I think we should review this advice.  Unless your pot ... … Can I Re-Use Potting Compost?

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

Top ten list of the easiest vegetables to grow for the beginner gardener. Our list of easy to grow vegetables all have a good chance of first time success and will give you the skills you need to ... … Top Ten Easiest Vegetables To Grow

Pumpkins have a special appeal for both adults and children, especially at Halloween. The carved pumpkin outside the front door - or being carried house to house as a lantern - is an establishe ... … How To Grow Pumpkins

At first glance it would seem like a no-brainer that organic pesticides are preferable to chemical pesticides; at least to a gardener who wishes to do the least harm while still protecting their cro ... … The Pros and Cons of Organic Pesticides

Last weekend I was back in the polytunnel and sowed a few trays of seeds which I wanted to start on the heat bench (onions and leeks). It is still very early days but there are seeds that can be sown ... … February in the Quickcrop Vegetable Garden

Regular readers will know that I included my outdoor garden succession planting plan in one of our January emails. I also said I would follow with my polytunnel plan if anyone was interested and have ... … Polytunnel Succession Planting Plan 2021

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-Dig Way' by Charles Dowding. Both are f ... … Mulching is the key to a healthy garden

Perfectly healthy plants can be affected by air, water or soil borne diseases at any time. Understanding the causes, identifying them early and taking effective action will help you establish and ... … Diseases in the Vegetable Garden

I can't believe I am already writing about the vegetable garden in August, where has all that time gone? I don't know what the weather is like where you are but we are seeing cooler, showery days whi ... … August in the Quickcrop Vegetable Garden

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 might also ponder, while wondering abo ... … Why Grow Your Own Food?

Recommended Varieties: Hispi F1 Where to grow: Cabbage needs a fertile moisture retentive soil with good drainage. The cabbages will remain in the ground through the Winter so in wet a ... … Cabbage Spring

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 year. I don't know where you are but her ... … The Vegetable Garden in August - What to grow in Late Summer

Pollinating Sweetcorn As you may know from previous mails, I am growing sweetcorn in the polytunnel this year as part of our video project. I thought you might like to see a couple of photos as the c ... … Mid July Vegetable Garden Update

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 that I am not a winter fan. This ... … Preparing the Vegetable Garden for Winter

The end of March and early April is approaching prime seed sowing time if we are starting indoors in seed trays or pots (for planting outside in May). I think we covered timing already but, a ... … April Vegetable Seedling Care Guide

This recipe comes comes courtesy of the very generous Domini Kemp (on the right) who has given us access to her recipe book. I'm off bread because I can't sleep (doesn't make any difference) but the ... … Domini's Leek and bread pudding.

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 something 'active' about them with their ... … How to Grow Climbing Peas and Beans

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 and green. Despite the fact that the ... … July 7th - Quickcrop Vegetable Garden Update

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 may cases I will be tempted to start a ... … The Polytunnel in January

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

Pumpkins can be a bit of a challenge to grow in Ireland, as they require a long growing season with good levels of sunshine - something that we can't really take for granted in this side of the ... … Do Pumpkins Grow in Ireland?

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 growing season like tomatoes, peppers an ... … The Vegetable Garden in Mid May

'Brigitte F1' has to be the best and most reliable brussels sprout variety with fantastic results every time. We recommend using an F1 hybrid sprout like Brigitte because the sprouts stay closed l ... … How to Grow Brussels Sprouts

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

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

What is a Polytunnel? A polytunnel is an elongated, semi circular-shaped tunnel made out of polyethylene. They come in a wide variety of sizes, and they can be something of a game changer in a mild, ... … A Beginner's Guide to Polytunnel Gardening

I feel a bit guilty about my post last week where I said there was nothing to do in the November garden so I thought I would offer a few tips today. It is true that there are very few vegetables to s ... … November Tips in the Vegetable Garden

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

I thought I'd quickly try to explain the difference between open pollinated and F1 seeds this week as I was asked about it twice over the last few days. There seems to be some confusion between F1 ... … Heirloom, Open Pollinated and F1 Hybrid seeds.

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 helpful (fantastic!). With that in mind, I ... … Growing tips for beginners

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. Garden planning is something you can d ... … How to plan a vegetable garden

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, but there are some general principle ... … A Guide to Garden Irrigation

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 properly to begin with and take preca ... … How To Grow Cabbage (Summer)

The soil or compost you use in your school vegetable garden is the single most important part of the project. Vegetables are demanding as plants go, after all we we expect quick growth and lots of cr ... … Soil or compost for a school vegetable garden

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 work can be an awkward task once the p ... … How To Prepare Ground For A Polytunnel

Cabbage is a demanding plant from 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 properly to begin with and take precauti ... … How to Grow Cabbage (Winter)

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

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 system divides the growing space up int ... … Square Foot Vegetable Gardening Using Timber Raised Beds

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 interested in what I can sow or plant right n ... … Mid June in the Vegetable Garden - What to sow

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 other than harvesting any remaining crops ... … The Vegetable Garden in November

Your Immune System The immune system is made up of a network of cells, tissues, and organs that work together to protect the body. It is a highly evolved series of defences designed to ... … Functional Nutrition Basics Part 5 – Immune Function

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

I thought it might be a good idea to follow last week's article on sowing seeds with some notes on seed and potting compost. It might seem like a boring subject, but knowing your compost will become ... … A Guide to Seed & Potting Compost

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

Soil is the foundation of any vegetable garden, if it is treated well it will reward you. Year by year soil needs to to accommodate the demands of cultivation and the weather. Here are some suppl ... … Ten Ways to Improve your Soil

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 a tractor! Readers from last Autumn m ... … April 20th Garden Update. Planting French Beans

Urban Planters / Container Gardening for vegetable growers. An image blog post. Wooden Wine Boxes make great little planters for herbs and salads. Vertical farming with herb containers. Any wall or ... … Growing Vegetables In Urban Planters - Container Gardening

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 from the teachers point of view is they ... … How to build a school raised bed vegetable garden

This week we are back in the vegetable garden to look at growth towards the end of the season and to make sure we get the best possible harvests before the cold weather arrives. While August can seem ... … Late August Garden Update & Protecting Your Soil.

I know I mentioned feeding your soil in some detail at the end of August, but it really is the best thing you can do for your garden at this time of year. Layers of organic matter - which may includ ... … The Vegetable Garden in October

Try saying that blog title quickly! Slugs have always been a challenge for anyone trying to grow their own vegetable crops, but 2023 seemed to see higher numbers than ever in gardens across the coun ... … How Do I Protect my Seedlings from Slugs and Snails?

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 system is especially good for beginners a ... … New Square Foot Garden Plans

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 be just as productive as larger suburb ... … Urban Planters - Small Garden Ideas

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 food supply, and planting food crops whe ... … What is a Victory Garden?

I had the pleasure on Monday evening to give my very first talk to a gardening club. It was all very professional with a projector for my (first ever) Powerpoint presentation and a microphone s ... … The Importance of Soil Biodiversity

Leeks are a very easy and rewarding crop to grow. They are such a welcome vegetable in Autumn and Winter and add interest and colour to your garden with their blue/green spiky leaves. You ca ... … Sowing Leeks in February

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

As September is one of the busiest harvesting months, this week I thought it might be helpful to talk about preserving or storing vegetables over winter as, if your garden is anything like mine, you ... … Storing & Preserving Homegrown Vegetables.

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

If you are new to vegetable gardening you will probably be imagining yourself carefully nurturing your healthy, glossy plants, perhaps giving them a little water from your pretty yellow watering can ... … What are Nematodes?

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

Previously on the blog we've talked about the Vigo Fruit Press, and how you can make your own scrumptious, nutritious homemade juice from your fruit harvests. However, in the case of large apple har ... … How to Make Cider from Your Apple Harvest

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

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 some common issues before they arise. As ... … Natural Pest Control Methods

'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)

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

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 options when it comes to cooking and garnish ... … How To Make a Herb Garden

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 wind had also dropped leaving the lak ... … February 2018 - Vegetable Garden Update

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 that pops up all the time and the sho ... … Can I Grow Vegetables Indoors?

I was pleased to bump into writer and journalist Fionnuala Fallon recently as I wanted to compliment her on her new book 'From the Ground Up'. I'm a sucker for good photography and also a bit of a no ... … An interview with Fionnuala Fallon.

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 protected from the outdoors - which can ... … Polytunnel Pest Control

As we all know growing vegetables takes a lot out of a garden, because when we remove our nutritious crops we remove nutrition from the soil. This has to be given back. The really good stuff in ... … Envirogrind Compost - Black Gold from Killybegs

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 have fallen out of love with our vegetab ... … How to grow tulips

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

Well folks, I am back from my week's holidays loafing around with the day to myself. If anyone is interested, I was in Oysterhaven, a pretty spot on the sea in county Cork. The idea was to have an id ... … The Quickcrop Garden in Mid June

As someone who makes a lot of mistakes, I have to say I absolutely love a clean slate. I can literally drag myself to the end of the year yet emerge completely transformed once the calendar rolls aro ... … The Quickcrop Garden in January 2021

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

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 where you are, but it was wonderfully wa ... … ​The Polytunnel in April

Spring cabbage is delicious and tender and will be one of the first proper crops you can enjoy in the Spring. Remember Spring cabbage needs to be planted the previous Autumn to over winter and pro ... … How To Grow Cabbage (Spring)

I posted an 'info graphic' (which I did myself) on facebook the other day illustrating that an acre of land could support 20 families in vegetables but just the one cow. I was hoping for a bit of ... … Cows aren’t the problem, Agriculture is!

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

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

Keep sowing those seeds! I know I said it in a previous mail/blog post, but I feel I should again remind you to keep sowing seeds for late summer, autumn or overwintering crops. I know it doe ... … Late July in the Quickcrop Vegetable Garden

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 February) so I figured it may be helpful to ... … Sowing and germinating vegetable seeds

Rosemary is one of the most decorative herbs and is well worth growing for its appearance alone. Dependent on the variety, it has small, profuse flowers appearing in late spring which range from da ... … How To Grow Rosemary

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 enormous glass jar of pickled eggs at the e ... … A Pretty Pickle

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 thought I might as well contin ... … The Benefits of Clover as a Cover Crop

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 planting growing technique.Runner beans ar ... … How To Grow Runner Beans

The Evolution of the Wild Cabbage Plant My recent bedtime reading has been 'The Blind Watchmaker' by evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins and I am now suffering from lack of sleep. The book is fas ... … Growing Brassicas - How we bred this amazing group of plants

What is a Microclimate? A microclimate is a small localised area that differs somewhat from the surrounding weather conditions, for example being warmer, more humid, windier etc. A ‘localised ... … Creating a Microclimate in your Garden

Our Story Quickcrop is all about making vegetable growing easy and accessible whether you live in the countryside or the city, whether you want to grow a pot of salad leaves or want to feed your who ... … About Us