Glossary

Glossary

Bark ringing

Excising with a sharp knife a narrow ring of bark around the trunk or limb of, usually, a fruit tree, to arrest or slow its vegetative growth. The ring can be full or complete, depending on the degree of slowing needed. Be careful - this is e technique for the experienced gardener only, as ringing can kill the tree if done over-enthusiastically. LINK - Root pruning is a safer option.

Blossom/fruit thinning

The reduction of flower buds or young fruits on top fruit in order to improve fruit quality and size, to prevent branch breakage, or to influence the cropping pattern of the tree. Blossoms can be pinched out individually, or cut out with scissors as alternate clusters. Fruitlets can be twisted off to leave a single fruitlet every 5-8cm (2-3in). Blemished or ‘king’ (i.e. central) fruitlets should be removed first. Trees prone to biennial bearing (i.e. a pattern of following a good crop one year with a poor crop the next on a two-year cycle) can be made more regular in their cropping habits by blossom and/or fruit thinning.

Catch crop

A quickly maturing crop grown in the interval between harvesting one main crop and sowing or planting another.

Earthing up

Drawing up of soil around plants, usually with a draw hoe or fork. It is carried out on potato crops to prevent tubers turning green and infection from blight; on brassicas to prevent wind-rock; on leeks and celery to blanch stems; and in layering and stooling fruit-tree rootstocks to encourage the formation of rooted shoots.

Hardening off

The process of acclimatising plants to harsher growing conditions. It is achieved by gradually increasing exposure to lower temperatures and air movement, often by transferring pots or trays of tender plants from the greenhouse to unheated frames. This method is typically used for half-hardy bedding plants for a few weeks before they are planted out to reduce transplant shock.

Scion

A shoot or bud cut from a chosen plant/cultivar for the purpose of grafting or budding on to a rootstock, in order to produce a new individual.

Successional

Applied to repeated sowings made at set intervals, or to the planting of cultivars fruiting at different times, to ensure continuity of supply of the harvested crop.

Sucker

1) A shoot that arises from plant roots or underground stems and, in the case of grafted plants, may be untypical of/different to the scion (the usual top growth). Suckers often occur on plums and roses for example. 2) A pysllid insect pest that sucks sap (e.g. bay sucker).