- Annual- A plant that lives its entire life cycle in one year. Also, a type of plant that will not survive the cold winters and must be replanted every year. (In Pittsburgh, Petunias are annuals)
B
- Beans, Bush- A type of eatable bean that grows only a certain height and has a branching habit. Allegedly does not need a fence or support to grow, but I find that supports are helpful.
- Beans, Pole- A type of eatable bean that continues to grow like a vine all season. They need something to grow up in order to be healthy. They have a very small footprint in the garden bed and can be effective as screening.
- Biennial- A plant that takes two years to live out it's full life cycle. The first year is usually vegetative growth and the second is flowering and fruiting. (Carrots are Biennials, but since we pick them for their roots and not their flowers or fruit it doesn't tend to matter to most gardeners)
C
D
- Direct sow- When you sow your seeds directly into the soil where the plant will grow. Not starting them inside and then transplanting them as seedlings.
E
F
- Fruit- The enlarged ovary of a plant containing the seeds. Often eatable. Examples: Apples, Strawberries, Tomatoes, Pumpkins, Blueberries, Cucumbers.
G
- Germination- The first emergence of the seedling from the seed. When you first see signs of life coming up.
H
- Hardening off- the process of slowly moving young plants outside for parts of the day to gradually acclimate them to sun, wind, rain, and the world outside.
- Horticulture- the art or practice of garden cultivation and management. An umbrella term for anything having to grow with growing plants that isn't classified as Agriculture.
I
J
K
L
- Light Requirements- The amount of light required for a plant to thrive.
- Full sun- 6 hours or more of direct sun light
- Part sun- 3-5 hours of direct sun, usually in the mornings and late afternoons
- Part shade- 1-5 hours of direct sun, can usually handle dappled sun
- Shade- Less than 3 hours of direct sun per day
M
N
O
- Organic- Google (and Marriam-Webster) define it as "of, relating to, or derived from living matter." which is a really broad term and not often what gardeners mean when they say "Organic". This is actually a really difficult term to nail down and I'll be discussing why in a whole future blog post.
P
- Perennial- A perennial plant is one that will survive through the years and will not need to be replanted in following years. Most woody plants (trees, bushes) and many geophytes (bulbs, corms, rhizomes and the like) are considered perennial.
- Pest- An unwanted animal, insect, bird, or plant. Usually one that is going to do damage to wanted crops.
Q
R
S
- Seedling- A young plant. Either purchased from a nursery or grown from seed at home. Also called liners
- Self-Seeding- Some plants, often annuals, will drop their seeds in the fall each year and return in the spring with out the gardener needing to do much of anything to make it happen. This shouldn't be confused with Perennials that survive for multiple years. These plants dies off after seeding, but their offspring live on the next year.
T
- Tomatoes, Determinate- AKA "Bush" varieties. Determinate varieties of tomatoes only grow to a certain size in each growing season and produce a large single crop of fruit all at once (within a two week period). Have a branching habit and allegedly do not need support, although I have found that they benefit from a tomato cage anyway.
- Tomatoes, Indeterminate- A vining tomato that will grow all year long, as long as the conditions permit. They will produce a constant flow of fruit all season, rather than one large crop. They produce fruit on their new growth. They also respond well to pruning if their production has slowed.
- True Leaves- When a seedling first emerges it will likely have two round fat leaves. These leaves are not true leaves, they're the seed leaves or "Cotyledon". Once the seedling has become a little bit established they will produce their first set of "true leaves" which look much more like miniature versions of their adult leaves.
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
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