Cleaning: not the best fun in the world, but it has to be done. Fortunately a polytunnel doesn’t have to be cleaned too often. Once a year is generally sufficient, and the best time of year to ... … Read more

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 sometimes seem like another word for &lsqu ... … Read more

In my opinion Kale is an underrated crop. It's really easy to grow, doesn't suffer as much from the usual brassica problems, is very good for you and tastes delicious. I suppose it is tougher than ca ... … Read more

Pak Choi (also called bok choy) is a mild flavoured Oriental vegetable in the same family as Chinese cabbage, Tatsoi and Wong Bok which are all grown the same way. Pak Choi can be eaten raw, stir ... … Read more

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 ... … Read more

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 ... … Read more

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 ... … Read more

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 ... … Read more

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. Having said that, accidents can happen ... … Read more

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 one-cucumber-a-day habit? Or that the ... … Read more

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 ... … Read more

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 and distribute it in a more even fash ... … Read more

West Cork Garlic is a new enterprise which has undertaken the risky business of growing garlic commercially in the Irish climate.Axel and Marye Miret of Enniskeane, County Cork, started off with a pi ... … Read more

The popularity of Metal Raised Beds continues to grow, with more and more gardeners seeing them as a compact, durable and low-maintenance option for growing vegetables at an elevated height. … Read more

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 soil is at foot-level and that’s where ... … Read more

Sage is very slow to establish itself, so be prepared for a wait if you grow it from seed. When established however, common sage is reasonably hardy and tolerant of almost all conditions as long as ... … Read more

I have a soft spot for peas. They are easy to sow, look beautiful, are fascinating to observe as they climb and, of course, have a delicious sweet flavour. They are an active, friendly and tactile cr ... … Read more

Potatoes are a staple, a real mainstay of the kitchen but I think we can take them for granted in this part of the world. I grew up in a household that served them one way with Sunday dinner so get q ... … Read more

I do love the colour of beetroot, its glorious deep fuschia just makes me feel good looking at it. Add chickpeas, oil, garlic, lemon and some ground cumin in the blender and I still see that wonder ... … Read more

Thyme deserves a place in all herb gardens. Its foliage is attractive, the long-lasting flowers are very pretty and it is a compact easy-care plant. On top of that it is one of the most useful ... … Read more

Gooseberry Bushes How to grow gooseberries. Ranging from huge, juicy, red dessert fruit to tiny, sparkling, golden drops of sweetness, gooseberries are a great, easy to grow choice. This section al ... … Read more

Cucumber plants are either vining varieties with long vines or bush varieties with shorter vines. Cucumbers may be planted in hills or grown on supports such as trellises, fences, or stakes. Choose v ... … Read more

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 fall to the ground. And stay there. Yo ... … Read more

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 have been improving my garden soil ove ... … Read more

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 ... … Read more

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 ... … Read more

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 ... … Read more

Organko composters are a line of kitchen composting units, made by Slovenian manufacturers Plastika Skaza. They provide an efficient method of processing and recycling kitchen waste. More generally ... … Read more

Healthy vegetables need a healthy soil, it's as simple as that. It is possible to grow vegetables in poor soil by using artificial fertilizers but the quality of the soil will be further eroded un ... … Read more

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 ... … Read more

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. Interestingly enough for the purpose of thi ... … Read more

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. This can create a deep sense of well-b ... … Read more

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 ... … Read more

Basil is one of the most well-known and well-used herbs in the UK and Ireland. It is used as a key ingredient in Italian dishes including pizza and pasta. It is the main ingredient in pesto and it ... … Read more

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 hours before Sunday Miscellany was due to ... … Read more

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 edibles alike. They can cause ... … Read more

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 blunders are forgotten and a fabulous new ... … Read more

Preparing the garden for winter 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 or ... … Read more

If you're familiar with the Quickcrop garden diary, you may have noticed the low timber fence around my vegetable plot, which is supposed to keep things looking neat and tidy but has got very r ... … Read more

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 though, far from it. The use of olla (pronounced&n ... … Read more

I made a vow to myself last week that I would go at least a month without including a photo of my tractor in these emails. As you see above I have failed already but, to be fair, that's a really nice ... … Read more

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 you would be able to outdoors. Tempera ... … Read more

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 calling on a Sunday morning" says Dermot "N ... … Read more

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 ... … Read more

Why Compost in the first place? Composting is the best thing you can do for your vegetable garden. It is the natural process that returns the nutrients used by growing plants back to the so ... … Read more

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 organic matter and by using their undergro ... … Read more

It's the start of Autumn here and we’re clinging on to a vague suggestion of an Indian Summer. It's still dry enough to spend a bit of time in the garden and there are a few seasonal jobs that are pe ... … Read more

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 ... … Read more

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 which should have resulted in a quick ... … Read more

Soil and Site Any moderately fertile moisture retentive soil is good. A sheltered semi shade position is ideal. Rotation Oriental salads are part of the brassica rotation Sowing Oriental ... … Read more

The cauliflower is not the easiest of the brassica family to grow but a large white cauliflower with tight white curds is a thing of beauty and producing one a source of much satisfaction. Variety ... … Read more

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 years. It plays an important role in a ... … Read more

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 ... … Read more

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 ... … Read more

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 an entrance or archway between differen ... … Read more

A Finnish sauna is a traditional type of sauna that uses dry heat in a wooden cabin type structure. Rocks are heated up using a special stove, called a kiuas, and then water is poured on top to ... … Read more

‘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 easy on myself. But you shouldn’t read t ... … Read more

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 your own food, but high yield vegetable ... … Read more

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 doubly so when someone is trying to mar ... … Read more

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 yearly cycle but to the same dependable ... … Read more

We get asked a lot this time of year what fertilizer should be used on what plant. I find the subject very interesting, much to the dismay of some callers who I sense nodding off on the other end of ... … Read more

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 gardener, who takes advantage of every ... … Read more

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 ... … Read more

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 ... … Read more

I thought we'd start the garden update with a couple of photos taken last evening while having a walk on a local bog. The photo above is of Eriophorum angustifolium or bog cotton (oddly, th ... … Read more

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 itself. Veganism is a belief or philosophy ... … Read more

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 ... … Read more

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 may be asking yourself: What is the bes ... … Read more

In answer to a number of queries on how to get started as a new vegetable gardener here's a few of my top tips to get you going: What do you like eating? This might sound like a silly ques ... … Read more

The variety we use in our nursery is usually Red Rovite, it is a very reliable red cabbage to grow in Autumn and Winter. Where to grow: Although cabbage can tolerate shade they will do much ... … Read more

A member of the onion family, chives are well worth cultivating in the vegetable and flower garden. They take up very little space, and the whole plant can be eaten from top to bottom - the bulbs ... … Read more

I am not sure what it's like with you but we have had some real January weather over the weekend with some hard overnight frosts. A hard frost ads a touch of magic to the garden, with ice cryst ... … Read more

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 ... … Read more

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 in your favour. My number one would be ... … Read more

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 ... … Read more

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 ... … Read more

What is Meant By Organic Gardening? You will no doubt often hear the term organic gardening or ‘gardening naturally’. What it actually means - or how strict the definition is - can be dif ... … Read more

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 ... … Read more

Many of you will have noticed it is no longer Autumn, so clearly planting tulips and daffodils aren't an option at the moment. The great news is there are a whole range of Spring-pl ... … Read more

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 ... … Read more

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 one of the favourites. There are many ... … Read more

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 ... … Read more

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 also very prolific so don't worry ther ... … Read more

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 ready to move them out into your gard ... … Read more

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 ... … Read more

Hi folks, I hope everyone had a good weekend. I don't know what the weather is like with you but we finally had a beautiful summer weekend with plenty of heat and sunshine. It has been a woefully slo ... … Read more

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 ‘pickled cucumber’. We’re a little more sp ... … Read more

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. Harvesting at just the right time is impo ... … Read more

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 saturat ... … Read more

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 unfortunate as for the most part they are ... … Read more

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 ... … Read more

If you don't have a patch of soil to grow in then clearly you will have to grow your vegetables in a container of some sort. A container grown urban garden adds life to your balcony or back yard a ... … Read more

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 ... … Read more

I spent most of last weekend loafing around Kent and Sussex as I was keen to visit a few gardens while the season still has some life left in it. One of the highlights of the trip was a visit to the ... … Read more

Getting Started 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 levels aren't as good. … Read more

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 ... … Read more

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 jobs I thought you might like to see what ... … Read more

While a wildflower meadow requires less maintenance and upkeep than a large lawn, it is still a managed habitat and will need attention at strategic times of the year. Once it is fully establis ... … Read more

Following on from last week's post I thought we would continue with more planting tips, this time on tomatoes as I put some in my tunnel at the weekend. As regards flavour, there is no comparison bet ... … Read more

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 ... … Read more