Raised beds are better for growing vegetables because they raise them off the ground level, protecting them from foot traffic and creating a more comfortable working height. Raised bed protection cov ... … Raised Bed Covers

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

Plant protection is the practice of managing weeds, 'pests' and diseases that could otherwise damage or inhibit the growth of your crops, as well as mitigating the effect of weather extremes. Strate ... … A Grower's Guide to Crop Covers and Plant Protection

Growing carrots in containers can be more successful than you would expect, and it is a great way to begin growing your own food at home. Patio planters or containers make for a great wa ... … How to Grow Carrots In Containers

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 ... … Waist high garden beds

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 would like - here's our Christmas gif ... … Christmas Gift Ideas for The Gardening Enthusiast

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

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 ... … Garden Arches & Arbours

We've started taking down a few old and scruffy conifers at the Quickcrop estate to make room for some beech trees and for the valuable winter firewood they provide. That's Clive in the picture who's ... … The August Vegetable Garden

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

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

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

It's one thing to have your greenhouse all set up, installed and ready to go for the new season. However an empty greenhouse is a bit like an empty house; you're best off getting some furnishin ... … Essential Greenhouse Accessories

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 my only option at first. When I began ... … The Benefits of Raised Bed Gardening

Know Your Broccoli! In Italian the word broccoli means 'little sprouts'. It is part of the Brassica family of vegetables, which also includes cauliflower, cabbages, Brussels sprouts, ... … How To Grow Sprouting Broccoli

We are often asked about the pros and cons of raised bed gardening, and how raised bed kits can help you overcome space or soil limitations. And since there's a good chance you're asking yourself (o ... … Gardening With Raised Beds: Frequently Asked Questions

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 ... … Small Space Garden Tips

Tomatoes are one of the most rewarding crops for the home gardener to grow, simply because their flavour is so much better than their shop-bought cousins. Tomatoes grown for the supermarket shel ... … How To Grow Tomatoes

I guess it is important to say from the outset that herbs are very easy to grow. Considering what they add in flavour - and how often you will use them - they are probably the best value plants in t ... … How to Grow Herbs at Home

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

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 container. You can create a  microc ... … Vegepod Self Watering Raised Bed

A polytunnel is a game-changer for the home grower, and if you can afford the initial investment it will pay off in spades. However, trying to choose between the range of options (and ensuring you g ... … Choosing the Right Polytunnel for Your Garden

Get the soil conditions correct and carrots are one of the easiest vegetables to grow in the cooler climates. Incorrect soil conditions lead to misshapen carrots - these may well cause a chu ... … How To Grow Carrots

As my garden moves into autumn and I harvest and clear spent crops from my beds, I am looking at an increasing number of empty spaces. Some of these gaps will be filled with autumn or overwintering ... … What are Green Manures?

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 ... … How To Clean and Maintain Your Polytunnel

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 ... … How To Fix a Hole in a Polytunnel

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

Raised bed vegetable garden plan.I include my 2016 vegetable garden plan below if anyone is interested in what I'll be growing next year. My garden is now split up into long raised beds with gravel ... … Quickcrop Vegetable Garden Plan 2016

Our Quickcrop mini polytunnel kits have been designed to be attached, via a hinge, to a timber raised bed. They can also be secured straight into the ground using the included ground pegs. These mi ... … Mini Polytunnel Kits For Vegetable Gardening

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

Forest gardening aims to mimic the natural balance found in forest or woodland ecosystems. Woodlands are known to support a diverse array of plants, wildlife and microorganisms, from tall trees to s ... … Forest Gardening

Chard is basically a beet without the bottom. It's a biennial that is grown as an annual for its big crinkly leaves. The stalks are red or white with large, dark green leaves that can be used as s ... … How to Grow Chard

After a wet week last week, the weekend looked promising (well, Sunday at least) to get some work done in the garden and start preparing it for the Winter. As you may know, my garden is in an area of ... … An October Weekend in the Quickcrop Garden

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

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 I normally would. While I write ... … The Vegetable Garden in April - Soil Preparation and Garden Tasks

It is has been an interesting year in the Quickcrop garden with a hot and dry start followed by plenty of rain. The overcast or rainy days have not been much use for ripening tomatoes but has been gr ... … September in the Vegetable Garden - Feeding and protecting your soil

Towards the end of summer and into autumn, activity in the vegetable garden slows down as crops are fully grown and their fruit begins to ripen. Winter brassicas are bedded in until spring, and work ... … How to Grow Microgreens Indoors

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 ... … Greenhouse or Polytunnel, Which To Choose?

If you are thinking about building some raised vegetable beds to make you kitchen garden a whole lot easier to manage you might want to consider our revolutionary new raised bed joining brackets. … Making Crop Protection Tunnels for Raised Beds

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

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

Ingredients 4 litres hot water 700g sugar Juice and zest of four lemons 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar About 15 elderower heads, in full bloom A pinch of dried yeast (you may not need this)M ... … Elderflower Champagne

I think I mentioned last week that haven't been spending as much time as I should have in the vegetable garden due to the uninspiring weather we have been having lately. I had noticed on one of my br ... … How do I deal with potato blight?

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)

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)

While we are heading in the right direction in terms of day length, February is still a very cold month with little we can sow or plant outside. There are a few crops that we should sow indoors in Fe ... … The Vegetable Garden in February 2021

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

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)

How to grow endive, a popular salad vegetable on the Continent there are two types: curly endive (chicorée frisée), which is more heat-resistant, and Batavian or broad leaved (escarole); there are ... … How to Grow Endive

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

We received this recipe from one of our customers and we were delighted to get it. If anyone has any favourite dishes they’d like to share please send them in. I must admit I haven’t tried it yet but ... … Grainne's spiced potato and cauliflower

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

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

I'd kind of given up including recipes in our newsletters as I can see by my sneaky control panel that not many of you read them. Still, this is a soup my lovely wife made the other day which I think ... … Curried Parsnip Soup

Using growbags couldn’t be easier, here is how to grow potatoes in a bag. The great thing about potatoes is that they can be grown almost anywhere, even if space is limited like in an urban setting. … Growing Potatoes in Grow Bags

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

It is incredible just how fast the season slips by, I can't believe it's September already! The final part of the season got away from me a bit (broken collarbone) but luckily work done earlier ... … September 2020 in the Quickcrop Garden

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

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 ... … How To Grow Tomatoes In Containers

Although it is still too early to sow anything I thought I would run through some seed sowing notes this week for any new growers who are unsure when or how to start growing. It will also likely be d ... … Vegetable Seed Sowing Notes

Green Manures Green manures are 'crops' which are sown to cover bare soil and do a number of jobs depending on the species like protecting soil, storing nitrogen or mining minerals. As I was writing ... … Top Pollinator Plants - Phacelia tanactetifolia

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

Firstly, thank you to anyone who mailed me last week to let me know you found our most recent article on plant feed for container growing useful. It is always great to hear from anyone out there, wha ... … The Quickcrop Garden in Early June

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

If you have some spare space in your vegetable garden in July you could put in some 'Second Cropping' potatoes for a late Autumn/Winter harvest. Winter seed potatoes are essentially selected early va ... … The Vegetable Garden in July - Planting New Potatoes

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 ... … Growing Healthy Vegetable Seedlings

Cabbage Pests & Diseases Cabbages and other brassicas have become a very important part of the vegetable garden in our climate. Different varieties of cabbages have been bred for productivity, s ... … Cabbage Pest and Disease Control

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

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 ... … Easy Home Tomato Planting Tutorial

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

As we move towards the beginning of May, things really start to move in the vegetable garden. Up until this point there have been very few seeds we can sow outside or seedlings we can plant out but t ... … April 30th Garden Update - Seedling Sowing Tips

September in the Vegetable Garden Following our article on Autumn sowing for the polytunnel (17th August), we have had a number of requests for information on outdoor sowing in September, naturally ... … September Seeds & Super Soil

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

You may remember some of the vibrant looking photos from my vegetable garden in the Summer with its neat (ish) rows of healthy crops and tidy weeded paths? Well, it looks nothing like that now. I a ... … Rathdooney Vegetable Garden Blog - November 28th

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) but today, it seems, the rain is bac ... … The Quickcrop garden in March - dealing with a wet Spring

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

We had a number of questions recently on polytunnel growing: particularly whether polytunnels are worth the investment and whether it is true that they enable year-round growing, so I figured I migh ... … What to Grow in the Polytunnel in Winter

Not too chilly for growing chillies! You don't need me to tell you that we are having a wet and windy February. So far we have dealt with high winds and heavy rain and, if the forecast is correct, ... … Sowing Chillies in February - How to Grow Chilli Peppers.

For a bit of colour to start, below is the beautiful magenta bulbs of onion 'long red Florence': a crop I harvested in 2021, but a variety I sow every year. A new batch of onion seedling plants ... … April in the Vegetable Garden - What Can You Sow?

Salad Burnet, also called Garden Burnet, Small Burnet or simply just burnet, is a perennial herb of the Rosaceae or Rose family. It's edible leaves have a slight cucumber like flavour and can be u ... … How To Grow Salad Burnet

Frost, or even the spectre of frost, is something that all gardeners are wary of. While some plants are more able to withstand a spell of cold temperatures than others, a sudden freeze can do a lot ... … Types of Frost Protection in the Garden

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

Winter Savory is part of the Lamiaceae family, it is not used as much as summer savory anymore because of its more bitter taste. As well as many medicinal properties, winter savory goes great with ... … How To Grow Winter Savory

I took the above photo on Friday morning on the last day of my holidays. It shows Gurteen bay in Co. Galway on another gloriously sunny day. For the first time ever the weather went my way, with nea ... … How to Irrigate your Garden During a Hosepipe Ban

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

As winter approaches in the second half of the year it's important to consider protecting your plants from cold weather - and the damage that can be caused by frost. In a lot of ways though, it' ... … How Frost Affects Your Plants

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

Plant propagation is creating new plants from existing plants. This can be done using seeds or bulbs, by taking cuttings from existing plants, or by dividing roots. Taking cuttings is by far the eas ... … How to Propagate a Plant From Cuttings

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 ... … Tips for Planting Out Seedlings

Seed sowing dates This week I thought it might be helpful to include some more detail on seed sowing dates as, with some minor planning, you can skew the season in your favour and avoid some common ... … Tips on Vegetable Seed Sowing Times

Chervil is a very under-rated and under-used herb. It has a very refreshing and slightly aniseed like taste. It's dark green leaves make the perfect addition to any salad.  The entirety of th ... … How to Grow Chervil

As was briefly mentioned in my mail of a couple of weeks ago, changing weather patterns can challenge our habits and our 'collective wisdom' about the traditional growing season. In recent years spr ... … How To Extend The Growing Season with a Polytunnel - Part 1: Spring

If you're staring off your vegetable plants in early Spring you'll need to give them some heat as temperatures will be too cold for the seeds to germinate. If you're growing in a greenhouse or pol ... … Germinating Vegetable Seeds in a Heated Propagator

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

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. From my own person ... … How to Grow Chilli Peppers

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

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

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 of success. As we need extra warmth t ... … Starting Seeds Early in the Season

Rocket is very quick growing, Rocket Cultivated Rucola Coltivata is a vigorous, robust plant with pungent leaves. Use as a main ingredient of a mixed green salad to add zest and texture.   ... … How to Grow Rocket

Spring onions tend to be treated as an afterthought by most gardening books yet they are a popular crop and very useful, possibly because they are really easy to grow. Salad onions, also properly ... … How To Grow Spring Onions