138 results

Irrigating your garden during a hosepipe ban

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 ne ... … Read more
Essential Garden Tools

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 ... … Read more
What Do I Need To Start an Unheated Greenhouse?

A greenhouse can open up possibilities for you and extend your growing season. It mainly does this by providing enhanced levels of heat and light: an effect brought about by the inherent design of ... … Read more
Foodscaping: How To Combine Ornamental & Edible Gardening

Edible landscaping or foodscaping is the practice of interspersing ornamental plant displays with edible crops, often in a way that creates a lush and colourful variety of foliage.  There’s ... … Read more
The Knepp Castle Re-Wilding Project

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
The Art of Fermentation - Milk Kefir & Korean Kimchi

It is rare that my wife and I agree on anything but I was pleasantly surprised when my liking for pickled vegetables converged neatly with her interest in the health benefits of home fermented pro ... … Read more
The Vegetable Garden in Spring

Well, it's been a while. I always have great intentions to write more articles every month but time seems to slip by so easily with the day to day business at Quickcrop. Yes, I am the same person who ... … Read more
Garden Biodiversity Tips

One of the greatest pleasures in gardening is watching life flourish all around you: not just in terms of the plants you grow, but also the non-human visitors to your garden. A biodiverse garden isn ... … Read more
A Pretty Pickle

I absolutely love vinegar, I'm addicted to the stuff. My hand actually starts shaking in anticipation as reach into the cupboard for one of the many jars of pickled produce that line the shelves. … Read more
The Science of Seed Germination

As you will know if you read last week’s mail, we kicked off our winter plant biology series with roots (I was going from the bottom up), but, in retrospect, I should really have started with se ... … Read more
Easy Home Tomato Planting Tutorial

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
Sowing Tomatoes in late February - a guide from Rhys Jaggar

Despite the fact that I am usually busy enough in the polytunnel in late Winter (sowing sweet peas, peppers, broad beans etc....), it is not until I sow my tomatoes that I really feel the seaso ... … Read more
Butterfly Gardening

Butterflies are one of the most charismatic of all garden visitors, with their vividly coloured wings and elegant flight arcs. Species like Red Admiral, Peacock and Small Tortoiseshell are comm ... … Read more
Pickled Cucumbers - Types of Pickles

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& ... … Read more
Vegetable Sowing and Planting Tips

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
What is Rewilding?

Rewilding is a somewhat complicated topic, suitably so for the complicated times that we live in. In simple terms it describes a way of restoring ecological balance by lessening the grip that ... … Read more
The Quickcrop garden in March - dealing with a wet Spring

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 ... … Read more
Raising Radishes - A Guide to Growing and Preparing Radishes.

Most people (including me until relatively recently) 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 h ... … Read more
Recognising Common Perennial Garden Weeds

Perennial Weeds Perennial weeds come up every year from the same plant and are difficult to get rid of but not as hard as they are often made our to be. Most have deep tap roots which need to be rem ... … Read more
Germinating Vegetable Seeds in a Heated Propagator

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 ... … Read more
The Polytunnel in April

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 ... … Read more
Do I need a Greenhouse or Polytunnel?

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. Te ... … Read more
April 30th Garden Update - Seedling Sowing Tips

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 ... … Read more
How to make your own Olla Pots for Eco-Friendly Garden Irrigation

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 (pronounc ... … Read more
Soil Improvement for Vegetable Gardeners

Healthy vegetables need a healthy soil, it's as simple as that. Soil Improvement for Vegetable Gardeners is very important as the quality of the vegetables produced is directly related to the qual ... … Read more
Urban Gardening Tool Essentials

Urban gardening often involves having to make the most of small spaces. Just how much space you have to work with will depend on circumstance, but it’s possible for even an apartment-dweller to ... … Read more
How to Start Seedlings Indoors

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 ... … Read more
September 2020 in the Quickcrop Garden

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 ... … Read more
The Importance of Soil Biodiversity

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 ... … Read more
How to Grow Onions

Onions are one of the most popular vegetables for growing in home gardens and are one of the first crops of spring. They can be stored over winter thus making a versatile crop. They are used in a ... … Read more
Quickcrop Vegetable Garden Plan

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 gr ... … Read more
Sowing and germinating vegetable seeds

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 wr ... … Read more
The Quickcrop Vegetable Garden in August 2016

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 fruit ... … Read more
How To Build and Install Raised Garden Beds

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 soi ... … Read more
Creating a Microclimate in your Garden

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
Soil health, plant feed & pruning fruit.

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 today as we prepare our gardens for a ... … Read more
Autumn is the New Spring with Asian Greens

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 no ... … Read more
Ultimate Guide to Vegetable Harvesting Part 2

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, irrigat ... … Read more

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