Rattan Wood and Turf Baskets. We must have the largest selection of  wicker and rattan fuel baskets in the country as Niall seems to have been bewitched by the stuff. The quality is exc ... Read more

As I mentioned in my mail the week before last, I have a lot planned for the garden this year and just to prove it wasn't a load of old waffle I include some photos taken over the weekend of the larg ... 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 ... Read more

There are no bounds when it comes to creativity when it comes to gardening, and the keyhole garden is a pretty neat example. This raised bed method of growing vegetables in a compact space is b ... Read more

Urban Planters / Container Gardening for vegetable growers. An image blog post. Wooden Wine Boxes make great little planters for herbs and salads.             & ... Read more

I'll be honest, I'm not a natural salesman despite the fact I'm supposed to be in online sales. I'm much happier on the editorial side of things but as we approach Christmas I guess it's ok to ped ... Read more

Raspberries are one of the most popular summer fruits and are very easy to grow. Different training techniques mean raspberries can be grown in gardens of any size and in containers.Preparation ... Read more

Gardening Gifts / Christmas Presents For Gardeners Gifts for gardeners and gardening gift ideas, it can be quite tough trying to figure out what the gardener in your life really wants for Christmas ... Read more

Planting Christmas potatoes in July 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 potato ... Read more

Whatever about sowing onions, broad beans or other early crops in February, it isn't until tomato sowing time that I get properly excited. That is when the season really gets going. Read more

Collecting autumn leaves may seem like another garden tidying task to add to the list, but they are actually a valuable resource for the vegetable gardener. When rotted they make an excellent m ... Read more

How to grow bare root soft fruit In general and for the purposes of this article, soft fruit refers to soft skinned, juicy fruit borne on bushes or canes. Other types of soft fruit include straw ... Read more

We propagate large amounts of vegetable seedlings in the early spring so need some heat to get them going. Clearly a heated propagator or heat mat isn't really practical as we need such a large ar ... Read more

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

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 ... Read more

Small Garden Ideas Vegetable growing should be available to anyone even if you have have a very small urban garden or worse, no garden at all! Small urban gardens can be just as productive as larger ... Read more

A greenhouse is very effective at what it does, but to keep it working to the best of its abilities you should keep on top of any maintenance issues that may arise. Keep a sharp eye on things l ... Read more

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 ... Read more

The Quickcrop Pea and Bean Frame is a support system designed for growing your own climbing garden peas and beans. Freshly picked home grown peas are one of the most delicious treats in the vegeta ... Read more

Like so many garden projects designing a pond requires careful planning. There are so many options to consider depending on use, size, shape, material and situation. A careful compromise of these fac ... 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 quic ... Read more

Just what tools and supplies are needed to start a vegetable garden? There are a multitude of tools available out there for absolutely any eventuality in the garden, and looking at such a long list c ... Read more

In case you are new to vegetable growing, I feel I should point out that tomatoes need heat throughout their lifecycle, both to germinate and grow healthy seedlings and to produce ripe fruit. Growers ... Read more

This week we have our second installment of the Burtown Kitchen Garden Diary where we see Dermot building a new polytunnel on the site to broaden the choice of fruit and vegetables destined for the B ... 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

Fruit trees and bushes are planted in the garden with the intention of remaining for the long term, providing produce for many years. In return for this supply of fresh fruit they require regular fee ... Read more

A comprehensive article on How to grow Artichokes (Jerusalem variety). Artichokes area very easy crop to grow but be careful as they are very hard to get rid of once established! Delicious ... 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

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 conditi ... Read more

I am sure you are sick of seeing pictures of my potatoes by now but I ended up digging out another barrow full of them on Sunday while I prepared a bed for Summer cabbage. According to the weather fo ... Read more

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 different place. It was such a nice day yesterday that we t ... 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 ever ... Read more

Peas are well-suited to cooler temperate climates. In fact, when temperatures exceed 20C (70F), most varieties of peas will stop producing pods. Peas are part of the legume (Latin Leguminosae) ... Read more

Parsnips are easy to grow members of the cow parsley family. This family includes carrot, dill, fennel and parsley among others. These seeds tend to have a short period of viability, so new packet ... Read more

Gardening has been going on in some shape or form since time immemorial, so it’s natural that garden tools tend to follow a traditional design depending on what task they’re designed for. After ... Read more

Climbing peas and beans are some of my favourite crops in the vegetable garden, they are the ones that epitomise Summer with their attractive flowers and lush growth. There is something 'active' abou ... Read more

Those of you who are subscribed to our newsletter may already be familiar with this A-Z guide that I've been gradually putting together. It's easy to find sowing times for vegetables but sometimes ... 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 creat ... Read more

'How to grow gooseberries' is intended as a solid introduction to growing this relatively easy to grow fruit bush. For more detailed information on gooseberries please feel free to contact us, we ... 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-planted bulbs ... 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

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 ... Read more

Rhubarb is a brilliant plant to have in your vegetable as it keeps popping up every year with a minimum of effort on your part. You can have a look at our 'growing rhubarb' article by clicking the ... Read more

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 ... Read more

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 engaging ... Read more

As bin charges increase and households try to be more environment friendly, we are seeing a corresponding increase in home composting. We have been interested in domestic composting for a lon ... Read more

When we set up Quickcrop over 5 years ago now we pictured it as the ultimate lifestyle business. Both myself and Niall were passionate about growing and saw the  business as something that would ... Read more

This article covers pruning old and neglected fruit trees, if you would like to learn how to prune younger or freshly planted trees please read ' An introduction to pruning apple trees'. I get ... Read more

I'll be honest from the outset - this article is a ploy so I can tell you about the best seedling propagator available, the 'Vitopod' heated electric propagator. I'm giving you the other options a ... Read more

Comfrey leaves are highly regarded as a natural and sustainable plant feed. The plant's far-growing roots enable it to extract nutrients from deep in the soil, including the the 'Big 3' pla ... Read more

Cucumber incident Did I tell you I'm now on TikTok? Despite not really knowing what TikTok is, I made my debut on the controversial social media platform a few weeks ago when Carmel put a ... Read more

Mizuna is one of those strange oriental vegetables which arrived in the West in the last 20 years or so. The name for this leafy green comes from the Japanese mizu, for “water,” and nu, for “mustar ... Read more

What exactly do you need to grow vegetables? If you are asking this question then it is safe to assume you are thinking about growing your own vegetables for the first time. The good news is that gro ... Read more

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 ... Read more

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 barn ... Read more

If you're getting a bit upset that the vegetable growing season is over you might like to try growing some sprouting seeds. O.K. they're never going to replace a large bushel of carrots or a bowl ... Read more

One of the best (and the most fun) ways to make compost is back! Innovators that we are, we had taken in a small stock of these sturdy compost bins last year but due to problems with the European dis ... Read more

Why Plant Bare Root Trees?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 g ... Read more

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 the ... Read more

Claytonia is also known as winter purslane or miners lettuce, it tastes quite like spinach and is full of vitamin C. It is a tough, cold resistant salad for growing in the open to crop from Octobe ... Read more

While a greenhouse shouldn’t need to be cleaned quite as much as a 'human house', it is very important to schedule a good cleaning session once or twice a year. Ideal times for carrying out ... Read more

I sometimes throw my vegetable garden a guilty look as I skip past it on my way to the fruit cage or down to look at my young apple trees. The vegetable garden, though not as glamorous, does the heav ... 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

Frost is the first thought when considering where to grow strawberry plants in your garden. They are very hardy plants during the winter but are not so hardy when they burst into life in spring. S ... 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 (pronounc ... 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 ... Read more

Common garden weeds are a large part of our gardens, and need to be identified before they manage to sow seed and multiply. If you keep a strict and thorough weeding regime, this particular chor ... Read more

July in the garden is a bit of a double edged sword, Mother nature shows her muscles both in the vigourous growth from your vegetable crops but also in the vigourous growth from your weeds. While you ... Read more

Perpetual spinach is actually a chard (beet family) but is very similar to true spinach in flavour. We prefer it as it is much easier to grow and far more vigorous than true spinach. It also has th ... Read more

After last weeks brilliant article on late sowings of peas and carrots I got a number of mails asking what other vegetables can be sown at this time of year. I am always surprised at how many peop ... Read more

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 ... Read more

Onions have to be one of the easiest crops to grow and will reward you with delicious crisp bulbs with a homegrown flavour all their own. Onions can be grown from seed but the easiest way to cultivat ... Read more

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 (so ... Read more

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

This week I'm giving you a look at what goes on behind the scenes at the ground breaking Quickcrop Design Bureau. For the last number of weeks we have been working on models of some of our new tim ... 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 th ... Read more

We can't all be blessed with a large outdoor garden space, and so it is that growing vegetables in containers can be an effective way of tackling space limitations. That doesn't mean you nee ... Read more

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 ... Read more

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 o ... Read more

Tips on propagating vegetable seedlings 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 frui ... 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

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 ... 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. Choos ... Read more

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 and au ... Read more

Camomile (also spelled Chamomile), it is a herb most commonly used for its relaxing properties, it has long narrow leaves with attractive daisy-like flowers. It is quite an easy plant to grow for ... Read more

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 ... Read more

As regular readers will know, I had to take down over half of my trees due to ash die back disease. Sadly, that has left my little patch of land looking very different and in need of some r ... Read more

What to sow or plant in September - it's not too late! I have included below some good things to sow or plant out as vegetable seedlings in September. Most of the varieties mentioned are available a ... 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 ... Read more

We talked a couple of weeks ago about how adding well rotted organic matter to your garden soil is the number one way to grow the best vegetables. One of the key ingredients is your own home produced ... 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 ... 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

Timber raised ponds can create a beautiful water feature centrepiece for your outdoor garden. With these kits you can have an instant garden pond in your garden, patio, or deck without the need for l ... Read more

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, ... Read more

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 ... Read more

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 ... Read more

Blueberries are high in antioxidants so widely regarded as a 'Superfruit' (whatever that is) but taking their health benefits apart they are also exceptionally tasty so well worth growing yourself. A ... Read more

I just took the picture on the left out the window of the office, it doesn't look quite as dramatic as it did in real life but does show that weird Autumn light we sometimes get this time of year. It ... Read more

This week we are starting a new series of reports from a country house in Ireland, the beautiful Burtown House in Co.Kildare. The reason for the connection is I know Dermot Carey who is now in charge ... Read more

If you’re just thinking about starting your first vegetable garden, you might feel like you’ve missed the boat or that it’s the wrong time of year. Fair enough: many gardeners see August as a t ... Read more