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Bee Better - Garden glossary Category: Agriculture and Industry > Garden terms Date & country: 23/06/2018, UK Words: 553

Predator
An animal that naturally preys on others. I worry that predators will get to my chickens.

Psithurism
The sound of wind through trees.

Pubescent
On certain plants a covering with a layer of fine short hairs or down.

Puddling
Mud-puddling, or simply puddling, is a behaviour most often seen in butterflies, but occurs in other insects as well. Butterflies seek out certain moist substances ,such as rotting plant matter, mud, and carrion, sucking up the fluid.

Pungency
Pungency is the technical term used by scientists to refer to the characteristic of food commonly referred to as spiciness or hotness and sometimes heat.

Pyrethrum
Natural insecticide made from the blossoms of various chrysanthemums.

Raised Bed
A garden bed built above the soil surface and typically framed with either wood or stone; raised bed kits and building plans are readily available. Raised beds, filled with purchased soil mixture, can eliminate problems with native soil, and can even be built on concrete.

Rain Gardening front coverRain Garden
Rain Garden.

Rain Gauge
A device that measures how much water a garden gets, either by rainfall or watering; keeping one in the garden can help you to determine if and how much to water plants

Rain Barrel
A rain barrel is a system that collects and stores rainwater from your roof that would otherwise be lost to runoff and diverted to storm drains and streams.

Resistant
Refers to how well a plant resists to pests.

Reseed
Also known as self-seeding or self-sowing. Plants reseed when they produce mature seed that falls to the ground and germinates to produce new seedlings. Examples of plants that frequently reseed include, Mexican tarragon, dill, cilantro, and heirloom tomatoes

Receptacle
The part of a flower stalk where the parts of the flower are attached.

Rejuvenate
Restore youth; a mature plant, having completed its life cycle (flowering), may be stimulated by a new 18 hour photo period, to rejuvenate or produce new vegetative growth.

Rhizomes
A continuously growing horizontal underground stem that puts out lateral shoots and adventitious roots at intervals.

Row Cover
In horticulture, row cover (or cloche) is any material used as a protective covering to shield plants, usually vegetables, primarily from the undesirable effects of cold and wind, and also from insect damage.

Root Bound
Roots stifled or inhibited from normal growth, by the confines of a container.

Root Flare
The outwardly curving base of a tree where it joins the roots, often distinguishable as individual root buttresses.

Root Rot
Root rot is a condition found in both indoor and outdoor plants, although more common in indoor plants with poor drainage. As the name states, the roots of the plant rot. Usually, this is a result of overwatering.

Root Stock
A rootstock is part of a plant, often an underground part, from which new above-ground growth can be produced. It can refer to a rhizome or underground stem.

Rotate
To plant crops in a different place each growing season; many experts specify using a 3-year rotation, which means in one spot in the garden, you plant a different crop three years in a row before repeating the same crop in that spot again; this planting practicehelps minimize pests and diseases

Root
Their purpose is to anchor a plant and provide a means in which to feed and hydrate a plant.

Runner
A long thin stem that usually grows horizontally along the ground and produces roots and shoots at widely spaced nodes, as in a strawberry plant. Also called stolon.

Runoff
The draining away of water from the surface of an area of land, a building. or structure.

Salt
Crystalline compound that results from improper pH or toxic buildup of fertilizer. Salt will burn plants, preventing them from absorbing nutrients.

Scratch-in
Scratch-in means raking granular fertilizer into the soil either with fingers or a small rake or hand cultivator.

Screen
Landscaping that is primarily used to screen an area for privacy, to block an objectionable view, or to serve as a natural boundary or border is considered a screen planting. Selections might include dense, fast-growing, evergreen shrubs; trees; vines; large succulents and tall ornamental grasses

Scoring, scratching, or teasing roots
The loosening of roots when taken from a nursery pot so they won’t continue growing in a circle is referred to as teasing the roots.

Scoville Scale
The first lab approach to measure heat in peppers, devised by Wilbur L. Scoville in 1912; in this method, human subjects taste a pepper sample and record the heat level; the samples are then diluted in the lab until heat is no longer detected by the tasters; this dilution is called the Scoville Heat Unit. While the method is still subjective, as it depends on the taster’s palate and sensitivity, it’s the most accepted, scientific measurement of heat in peppers

Scarification
In horticulture, stratification is the process of pretreating seeds to simulate natural winter conditions that a seed must endure before germination. Many seed species undergo an embryonic dormancy phase, and generally will not sprout until this dormancy is broken.

Semi-HardyVegetables
Tolerate light frosts (usually 29 to 32 ºF) late into fall and through winter in mild climates; good for spring and fall gardens, including cauliflower, lettuce, radicchio, rutabaga, and Swiss chard.

Sepal
The outer parts of the flower (often green and leaf-like) that enclose a developing bud.

Selenophile
A person who loves the moon.

Self-Pollinating
The pollination of a flower by pollen from the same flower or from another flower on the same plant.

Secondary Nutrients
Calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg).

Seed
A flowering plant’s unit of reproduction, capable of developing into another such plant.

Seed Pod
A dry calyx containing a mature or maturing seed.

Shade Cloth
Shade cloth is a commercially available material for hanging over your greenhouse glazing to cool it in summer months. They are usually made of loosely woven polyester or even aluminum and can be found in varying densities or degrees of shade from appx. 5% to 95%

Short-Day Onions
Onion varieties that need short days (10 to 12 hours of daylight) to form bulbs; they take approximately 110 days to mature in the South if planted in the fall, and just 75 days in the North where they may be planted in early spring; the earlier you plant short-day onions, the larger they get, but they won’t get very big in the northern states; short-day onion varieties, including Georgia Sweet (Yellow Granex), Sweet Red, Texas Super Sweet, (1015Y), and Texas Sweet White.

Side-Dress
To fertilize (growing plants) by mixing fertilizer into the soil along each row.

Slow Release Fertilizer
The property of a fertilizer that allows it to release it nutrients to plants over time.

Slow movement
The Slow Movement advocates a cultural shift toward slowing down life’s pace. The slow movement began in 1986 with Carlo Petrini’s protest against the opening of a McDonald’s restaurant in Plazza di Spagna, Rome. Thus the slow food organization was born. Over time, this developed into a subculture in other areas, such as slow garden, slow design, slow food, slow flowers, slow travel, and so on.

Soluble Salts
Definition of Insoluble salts (precipitates.) Many ionic metal compounds are insoluble in water. Calcium carbonate, copper chloride, and lead sulfide are examples of such salts.

Soil minerals
Soil minerals, also called nutrients, are necessary for plants. The minerals needed in large amounts (macronutrients) include

Soil Test
Soil test.

Soluble
Able to be dissolved in water.

Soil Food Web
A community of organisms that live in the soil; as organisms move through the food chain, energy and nutrients are exchanged. The soil food web features a diversity of creatures, from microscopic bacteria, fungi, and algae, to mites and nematodes, to earthworms, ants, spiders, and plant roots.

Soaker Hose
A type of hose that applies water directly to soil, typically by sweating or seeping water through its porous surface. Frequently made from recycled rubber; work best on a flat surface. Good for conserving water.

Soil
The earthen ground that serves as a natural growing medium for the growth of plants. Soil is made of minerals, air, water, and organic matter. The mineral component of soil is measured by size, including (largest to smallest)

Spore
Seed like offspring of a fungus.

Spring
Spring

Spring Fever
Oh, you’ll know it, when you have it!

Sprout
(1) A recently germinated seed (2) Small new growth of a leaf or stem.

Spike
An elongated main stem that supports many separate flowers on shorter stems, usually symmetrically arranged, as with Penstemon.

Split-Resistant
Used to described cabbage varieties that resist splitting when they take up a lot of water, especially after a dry period, ‘Early Jersey Wakefield’, and Stonehead ‘ are split-resistant cabbage varieties

Specimen
A plant that has interest enough to stand on its own and not be apart of a mass planting.

Square Feet
(SqFt) Length (in feet) times width equals square feet.

Stress
A physical or chemical factor that causes extra exertion by plants; a stressed plant will not grow as well as a non stressed plant.

Stratification
(the seed) Aa brief cold-treatment (few days) of water soaked seeds to break seed dormancy, results in an even germination. It is unlikely that pre-chilling dry seeds will break dormancy.

Strawberry Jar
A planter with pocketed openings in the sides into which small plants can be inserted for growing. used for growing strawberries as well as flowers and herbs.

Stool Layering
A method of propagation in which various woody-stemmed plants (as currants, gooseberries, quinces) are cut back to the ground in early spring and the new shoots that they develop are covered with soil to a depth of six to eight inches to induce root growth which forms individual plants that can be removed in the fall. Also called mound layering.

Stomata
Small mouth like or nose like openings (pores) on leaf underside, responsible for transpiration and many other life functions; the millions of stomata, must be kept very clean to function properly.

Starch
Complex carbohydrate; starch is manufactured and stored in food.

Sterilize
Make sterile (super clean) by removing dirt, germs and bacteria.

Stigma
The part of the pistil where pollen germinates.

Stolon
A stolon is a horizontal stem growing above ground that forms roots at its tip.

Stamen
Male, pollen-producing.

Standard
A tree or shrub growing on an erect stem of full height.

Sustainable
Means to perpetuate existence as well as to provide sustenance and nourishment.

Sustainability
The quality of not being harmful to the environment or depleting natural resources, and there by supporting long-term ecological balance.

Sustainable
Sustainable gardening,

Sugar
Food product of plant. Carbohydrates that contain hydrocarbon chain.

Sun Requirements
Sun Requirements.

Sunscald
Damage to plant tissue, especially bark or fruit, caused by exposure to excessive sunlight.

Support
Anything used to hold up a plant, such as a trellis, cage, or stake; support is often recommended for keeping tomato and cucumber plants upright and keeping fruit off the ground.

Susceptible Host
Any organism that is easily invaded by a parasitic organism for the purpose of subsistence, is presented.

Suckers
Suckers, often called watersprouts, shoots, or canes, is growth from the roots of trees, some shrubs, roses, as well as from rootstock of grafted trees or roses.

Succulents
Succulents are plants with fleshy, thick tissue adapted to storing water. Common succulents include agaves, ice plants, and stonecrops.

Suckers
A sucker is a shoot or cane which grows from a bud at the base of a tree or shrub or from adventitious buds in its roots.

Subtend
Subtend (of a bract) extend under (a flower) so as to support or enfold it.

Succulent
A type of plant with thick, fleshy leaves, stems, or tubers.

Synthesis
Production of a substance, such as chlorophyll, by uniting light energy and elements or chemical compounds.

Synthetic Fertilizer
Phosphoric acid and potash are the most common phosphorus and potassium ingredients in synthetic fertilizers. Synthetic fertilizers are by definition not natural. They are specifically designed to feed a plant a certain amount of specific nutrients.

Symptoms
A physical feature that is regarded as indicating a condition of disease.

Tap Root
The main or primary root that grows from the seed; lateral roots will branch off the tap root.

Taxonomy
The branch of science concerned with classification; especially of organisms.

Texture
Texture refers to the overall visual texture of the plant—the size and shape of the plant, and its foliage.

Temperate
The degree or intensity of heat present.

Tendril
Designing with vines.

Tepid
Warm 70 to 80 degrees F (21 to 27 degrees C); always use tepid water around plants to facilitate chemical processes and ease shock.

Terminal Bud
Bud at the growing end of the main st

Thatch
Lawn thatch is the layer of dead turfgrass tissue between the green vegetation and the soil surface that must be removed (a process known as “dethatching”) to maintain lawn health. It consists of stems, leaves, stolons, rhizomes and roots.

Thin
Cull or weed out very slow growing seedlings.

Threshold
The magnitude or intensity that must be exceeded for a certain reaction, phenomena, result, or condition to occur or be manifested.

Thug
A name give to plants that grow vigorously and choke out less aggressive nearby plants.

Tissue Culture
The growth in an artificial medium of cells derived from living tissue.

Till
Tilling is simply turning over and breaking up the soil. Exactly how deep you till and how fine you break up the soil depends on your reason for tilling.

Topsoil
The fertile, upper part of the soil.

Top-dress
To spread manure or fertilizer on the surface of (land) without working it into the soil. I top-dress my garden beds every year with fresh leaf mold.

Topiary
The art or practice of clipping shrubs or trees into ornamental shapes.