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

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

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 ... 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

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

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

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

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 beginner ... Read more

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

With so many available options causing confusion for novice gardeners here are some simple suggestions for anyone planning to grow vegetables.Herb Garden Preferably planted close to the kitchen, a h ... 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 ... Read more

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

Put that shovel away! No-dig gardening continues to grow in popularity with home growers and gardeners, but what does it actually involve? Will you need to sell all your garden tools? (Not quite) ... Read more

If you read any of the guff I write you will probably have heard me mention Charles Dowding before. He's a bit of a hero of mine basically because his book 'Organic Gardening - The Natural No Dig ... Read more

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 ... 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 ca ... Read more

1 Planning. Decide what you want to do with your vegetable garden and spend time working out the best way to achieve it. There are so many choices –fruit or vegetables, greenhouse or polytunnel, wor ... Read more

Like you, I am itching to get outside and can't wait for the season to get started. This year I will be spending more time in the garden as my output of video and photos was pretty weedy last year, I ... 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

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 garn ... Read more

How to plant your own Raised bed vegetable garden using the Quickcrop Square Foot garden method. Square foot gardening is all about taking advantage of smaller spaces and raised garden beds to maxim ... Read more

Why I Grow in Raised Vegetable Beds I guess the best place to get started is why should I grow in Raised Vegetable Beds in the first place? For me, growing in raised beds was my onl ... Read more

Mini Polytunnel Kits 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 incl ... 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

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

A new year brings with it the temptation to mix things up in the garden, expand your growing ambitions or simply fine-tune the way you do things. I myself spent a fun few hours on Friday plannin ... Read more

The vegetable garden is still pretty quiet this week so I thought we would return to ornamental gardening and look at some of the plans for my garden and some ideas we are working on for yours. I had ... Read more

Last week I touched on succession sowing and said I would include my plan for this year and, being very organised these days (new years resolution), I am pleased to include it below. Not all of th ... 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

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 ... 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

If you have read any of our previous blog posts you will know that we are rather spoiled at Quickcrop with our large rural gardens with plenty of room to grow in. If you have a smaller urban garde ... 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

A raised bed can provide the perfect environment for creating a herb garden. It can be positioned anywhere that suits you and can be maintained easily. A selection of plants can be mixed for a div ... 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

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

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

In a perfect world, there’d be plenty of room for gardens, greenery and foliage to exist in harmony with us as we go about our day-to-day lives. However, urbanisation and increasing levels of populat ... 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 ... Read more

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 i ... 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

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

Hugelkultur is a form of raised bed gardening using layers of organic material. We previously discussed keyhole gardening on the blog, and hugelkultur gardening has a few similarities. It has b ... Read more

Maintaining a garden pond fosters a healthy ecosystem, providing the suitable environment for fish and plants to thrive. It's important to practice regular maintenance routines, which can ... 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

We all know that gardening can sometimes be an expensive hobby, and when it comes to garden tools it can be tempting to go for the cheaper option where one exists. However, there are a number o ... 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

Regular watering and sensible irrigation is essential to the development and healthy growth of any plant. Water is drawn from the root of the plant and transported through its capilla ... 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 di ... 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 rea ... 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

The clocks haven’t yet gone back and the leaves are still on the trees but there is definitely a change in the light.  I love my time spent in the garden and will find any excuse to venture outs ... Read more

The garden isn’t just for working in - it’s also a great place to sit and gather your thoughts, soak in the ambience of nature, or relax in the outdoors with friends. Wooden garden benches are ... Read more

Beginners Gardening Kits Vegetable gardening can be a little intimidating to the beginner and it is hard to know where to start with all the various information flying around. Our new beginners g ... 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

Low Maintenance Gardens Growing plants in timber raised vegetable beds makes a lot of sense for all vegetable gardeners but especially for urban growers where space is limited. Using deep raised beds ... Read more

Flowering bulbs are ideal for container gardening or as part of a vibrant garden border. They are one of the easiest plants to grow and with a little careful planning can provide a beautiful show of ... Read more

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 mai ... Read more

2024 has been another year with lots of reports of seemingly insurmountable slug problems in UK gardens. You can theorise as to why slug populations seem so robust of late. Milder winters and ... 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

Remember Quickcrop give all schools 10% discount on all orders, please call us to receive your unique school code. Contact Andrew at 01788 298 795. An Introduction to School Vegetable Growing ... Read more

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 ... 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 we ... Read more

Timber planters in raised bed garden design Timber raised beds are an ideal solution for building an urban vegetable garden as they are relatively quick to assemble, are sturdy and can be used to cr ... 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 tha ... 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

I have always been a bit jealous of my brother in law as despite not being the worlds best linguist he manages to communicate no matter what country he finds himself in through the universal language ... 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

Sowing and planting too early in the year We can all get a little over excited when the new year comes around especially if, like now, we've had relatively warm Winter so far. We can all be guil ... Read more

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

Having some kind of automatic system set up to irrigate your plants is beneficial for a number of reasons: It frees you up to take care of other garden tasks, as you no longer have to traip ... Read more

This year I have slowly begun to move my garden into the field in front of my house by extending the lawn and creating a new orchard. The area is small as fields go, about 2 acres, but makes a lar ... Read more

UK Vegetable Gardening In Raised Bed Kits Raised bed vegetable gardening in the UK is becoming more popular than ever before with increasing numbers of people growing their own food, especia ... Read more

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 ... Read more

When it comes to watering the vegetable garden, convenience and automation has a lot going for it, but it’s not the be all and end all. Being a gardening ‘luddite’ whose weapon of choice is ... Read more

Site Vegetables are expected to give a lot. We want them to grow quickly and provide good quantities of nutritious food. To do this we need to pamper them a bit and this means giving the best si ... 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

Vegetable Garden Pests 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. On ... Read more

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 ... Read more

The Quickcrop Garden Irrigation System can be adapted to suit a range of vegetable garden design layouts using a selection of connectors, hoses, valves and timers which can be arranged and connect ... 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

With the Met Office promising a heatwave for the coming week, the thoughts of many gardeners will naturally turn to irrigation and how best to help our plants through the hot days. Here in Irel ... Read more

I quite like February, it's a bit of a renegade. Not only does it have a different number of days than any other month but it also reserves the right to change that date on a leap year. It is the mon ... Read more

Our Top Ten list of plant protection products for the vegetable garden. Plant protection is the practice of managing weather, weeds, pests and diseases that damage or inhibit the growth of fruit, veg ... Read more

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 ... Read more

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 ... Read more

I spent a good bit of time in the vegetable garden this weekend as the skies were blue for a change which made working outdoors a pleasure. I was also able to have a good snoop about without getting ... Read more

Garden pests are the scourge of many a gardener - it can feel like they’re taunting you and all your careful work as they infest, burrow into and devour crops or plants. In these kinds of s ... Read more

You don’t need a massive garden to grow delicious vegetables. Many vegetables can be grown in planters, buckets or bags with great results. Here is our top ten list of trouble-free container frien ... Read more

Using school raised garden beds We would strongly recommend using timber raised vegetable beds for your school vegetable garden for a number of reasons, the biggest from the teachers point of vi ... 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

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

It can be very tempting to stay inside at this time of year, especially when you have the choice of an ear full of hailstones or sitting in a warm kitchen. I certainly wasn't feeling terribly positiv ... Read more

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

Well, hello there folks. That's been a strange couple of weeks hasn't it? I apologise for the late mail but I have had the luminous vest on since last week as I've been packing orders in the warehous ... Read more

By Mark Ridsdill SmAny bright space, be it patio, balcony, roof terrace or window sill can become a productive and rewarding food garden.This is the first in a monthly series of tips on how you can g ... Read more

Vegetable growers blog full of gardening articles, tips and tricks for growing your own vegetables Read more