Broadcasting:
Seeding by sprinkling. Often the seeds are mixed with fine sand, to indicate where they have fallen.
Capillary matting:
Water absorbent matting which absorbs excess water from over-watered plant pots and allows dry soil to access more water by capillary action. Will work automatically with small plastic pots, but with bigger and terracotta pots a wick is required.
A quick growing crop, that is planted before a longer term crop is sewn, or at the end of the season after harvesting.
Companion planting:
One plant, often a flower, planted to lure pests from the edible crop. Examples include nasturtium and cabbages, grapevine and roses.
Cotyledon leaves:
The embryonic leaves of a seed; the first one, or two to appear. Fed by the seed’s store of starch. Highly nutritious. Often these leaves die away once the true leaves have appeared. They may look very different to the true leaves.
Interchangeable with Species; indicates the family and branch to which a plant belongs.
The stem of a plant that gets too tall and spindly because of lack of light. The stems strong upward growth before it breaks the surface of the soil.
F1 Hybrid:
A manufactured species of seed or plant which is generally infertile. It will not produce seeds, or if it does the seeds will not set. Used by manufacturers to protect their hybridisations.
Forcing fabric:
A lightweight synthetic fabric, which protects plants from frost and wind, but which lets through light and water.
Frost Dates:
These useful diagrams give last and first frost dates for the whole of the UK. Below I've started a grid of actual first and last frost dates on the rooftop.
| Rooftopvegplot Actual Frost Dates | ||
| Spring | Autumn | |
| Last frost date | First frost date | |
| 2013 | April 6th | 15th November* |
| 2012 | February 25th | 6th November |
| 2011 | February 22nd | |
| *mild ground frost | ||
Germ:
The plant germ is the fundamental shoot and first leaf nodes, from which the power of plant growth will spring. The germ of the seed, is the embyionic plant.
Grafting:
A method of combining the roots of one plant with the top-growth of another, to gain benefits from both species. The stems are glued, pegged or taped together.
The practice of acclimatising a seedling to outside conditions. Normally it entails uncovering a plant during the day and then re-covering it with protection at night. In four to six days time the plant will have developed a tougher skin, which will allow it to withstand harsher external conditions.
An old-fashioned variety of plant or seed, often favoured for its flavour or other less commercial characteristics.
The embryonic shoot of a seedling as it emerges from a seed.
The strength of energy from the sun measured in Watts/m². The energy that a plant uses to manufacture its growing materials.
Two or more crops planted in the same space, or a catch crop planted in between main crops.
Two different crops planted in-between each other. Often done in order to intensify cropping or for beneficial symbiotic effects. For example carrots planted in between rows of slow growing onions. The carrots will crop before the onions fill out and carrot root fly will be deterred by the smell of the onion leaves.
A description for small mixed salad leaves or seed mixes. Interchangeable with Saladini.
Salad leaves collected when only the cotyledon leaf has developed. Highly nutritious.
Seeds that have been grown to a recognised organic gardening standard. (A legal definition in the UK and EU)
Plants that have been grown to a recognised organic gardening standard. (A legal definition in the UK and EU)
The Henry Doubleday Research Station administers one of the most used Organic Registration Systems in the UK. The guidelines include do’s as well as don’ts.
The process by which plants use water and carbon dioxide to produce energy. The plant absorbs the carbon dioxide through tiny holes in the leaves and excretes oxygen as a waste product. Young fast growing leaves and plants produce more oxygen than older plants.
A description for small mixed salad leaves or seed mixes. Interchangeable with Mesclun.
The first stage of a whole plant produced from a seed. Once the true leaves have developed the seedling is ripe for transplanting.
The first roots to emerge from a seed.
The family and branch to which a plant belongs. Interchangeable with Cultivar.
An accurate and economical method of sewing seeds, where one or two seeds are inserted into a pre-determined hole.
Small amounts of a crop planted or sewn at intervals to ensure a regular supply and reduce the danger of a glut.
The second leaves to develop in a seedling; these will mimic the adult leaves of the plant.
Members of the Umbellifer family, like parsley and carrot, bear bracts of kidney shaped small flowers on multiple storks, reminiscent of an umbrella.
