Glossary

Glossary

Blanching

The practice of excluding light form parts of plants, so as to make vegetables such as celery, leeks, chicory and seakale sweeter in taste. It is also practised to induce root formation from shoots, for example in propagation of plum and cherry rootstocks. Resultant growth is devoid of the green pigment chlorophyll, and is therefore white or cream in colour.

Cordon

A plant restricted by pruning to one or occasionally more stems; a method of training apples, pears, gooseberries, tomatoes, and red and white currants, also sometimes used for woody ornamental plants, such as pyracantha and ivy. Also applied to a method of growing sweet peas in which each plant is restricted to one shoot, producing large flowers for exhibition.

Hoeing

Hoeing: The use of a hoe to loosen or break up the soil surface, remove weeds, make seed drills, earth up plants, or similar tasks. A hoe is a hand tool typically consisting of a flat, usually oblong, metal plate, or blade, attached to a handle about 1.5m (5ft) long. The two most common types are the Dutch hoe (also known as the push hoe or scuffle hoe), primarily used for surface cultivation, and the more versatile draw hoe, which is useful for slightly deeper cultivation, drawing out of seed drills, thinning of seedlings and earthing up. An onion hoe is a type of dray hoe, fixed to a handle only about 30cm (12in) long, used for cultivating between closely spaced plants.

June drop

The natural shedding in early summer of a proportion of the immature fruits of apple, pear, plum, cherry. Fruits fall over a short period, and the extent of the occurrence appears to be affected by soil moisture status. Planned fruit thinning should be done immediately after June drop.

Pinch out

The removal of the soft growing tip of a plant with the finger and thumb, to prevent growth extension from that point, and to encourage the formation of sideshoots.

Pricking out

Transferring very young seedlings from the site where they have germinated to other containers or beds, in order to provide more space for growth. Great care should be taken to handle only the seed leaves, to ensure that the roots are mostly intact, and to gently settle them in with a dibber (a pen-sized instrument made of wood or plastic, with a blunt, tapered end), as well as by subsequent watering.

Set

Refers to flowers that have been fertilised and are starting to develop fruit or seed. The term is also used for potato and other tubers, and small onion or shallot bulbs, grown for planting. Formerly it was used for any cutting, sucker, or graft material, or a young plant intended for bedding out.

Truss

A compact cluster of flowers or fruits, arising from one position on a stem. The term is applied, for example, to the flowerheads of tomatoes, rhododendrons and auriculas.