Garden Vocabulary

When you live a lifestyle long enough, you begin to take on the jargon, the language of that lifestyle. And then, you forget that other people have no CLUE what you are talking about. The goal of this post is to eliminate that confusion. Here are some of the terms you'll see again and again in our blog.

• High Tunnel: High tunnels are unheated, plastic-covered structures that provide an intermediate level of environmental protection and control compared to open field conditions and heated greenhouses. Synonyms include hoop house and poly-tunnel. We have six high tunnels on our 5-acres of land
• Seedlings (aka starts, transplants): The immature plant. Think of it as toddler tomato, or whatever vegetable to which you are referring.
• Frost-free days: The date on which the chances of avoiding freezing temperatures reach 95%. Here are Kansas' frost-free dates for 2010.
• DTM: Days to maturity. The number of days it takes a seed to grow from planting to harvest.
• Tomato cages: Tomato cages are the cylindrical cages placed over tomato plants. They give support to the plants and encourage vertical growth. They can be made out of various materials, but the majority of ours are made out of CRW (concrete reinforcement wire)
• Germination: The point at which seeds begin to sprout and grow. Germination varies from species to species, with peppers being one of our slowest germinating crops.
• True leaves: The first leaves that come out are not true leaves; they are the seedling leaves. True leaves are the first leaves that come out looking like the mature plant you are growing.
• Tilling: Turning or stirring the soil to ready the area for plants. Tilling can help eliminate unwanted, established weeds and grasses, while minimizing the seedlings' competition for soil nutrients.
• Organic: Organic is more than just pesticide free. USDA sets specific standards to be certified organic, and we didn't feel it was worth our time to go through the certifying process. So, we are not an organic-certified operation, although we do implement many BMPs to limit or prevent use of pesticides and herbicides.
• BMPs: Best management practices. Practices proven by research to be the most effective, beneficial and economical.
• Pesticides: substance used to kill unwanted bugs.
• Integrated pest management: Pest control using an array of complementary approaches including natural predators, pesticides, and other biological and environmental control practices.
• Herbicides: substance used to kill unwanted plants. This term is usually used to describe chemical commercial herbicides, but can include many other non-chemical applications.

Garden Vocabulary