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Gardening Terms Explained

ASARAGUS CROWNS

An asparagus crown is a dormant, normally one-year-old asparagus plant's root system, sold as bare roots. Sometimes two or three year old crowns are sold. An asparagus crown is grown from seed and some gardeners grow their own asparagus crowns from seed but it normally takes a year longer to crop compared to an already grown crown.

EARLY POTATOES

Early potatoes are ready for harvest before maincrop potatoes. They are broken down into two types:

FIRST EARLY VARIETIES
This group is the earliest to mature and will be ready for harvesting roughly 80 days after they are planted in their growing site (open ground or containers).

SECOND EARLY VARIETIES
Second early potato varieties are ready to start harvesting about 100 days after they are planted in their growing site (open ground or containers).

FROST POCKET

A frost pocket is an area of a ground / garden / allotment where cool air collects in preference to other areas. Because a frost pocket contains cool air, the area it occupies is more at risk from early and late frosts.

The reason for a frost pocket containing cooler than average air is that cool air sinks to a lower level compared to warmer air. So you can expect to find a frost pocket at the bottom of an incline or hill.

HARDEN OFF

When seeds are sown indoors or under cover the temperatures are higher compared to outside conditions. When the plants become ready to be planted outside they need a short period during which the plants are gradually acclimatised to outside conditions. Typically this lasts about two weeks.

The first stage is to place the plants outside during the day in a protected position and then take them indoors / under cover at night, this should last for a week.

The second stage is to place the plants outside for the day and the night in a protected position for another week. After that stage the plants will ready to placed outside in their final positions.

HORTICULTURAL FLEECE

Horticultural fleece are lightweight covers which are placed over crops or where crops will soon grow. Their primary purpose is to help prevent insects and other bugs from getting at your plants. They also provide a small amount of protection from frost and cold weather.

Horticultural fleece lets most light and water through so that plants can successfully grow beneath the fleece. At the same time the fleece prevents most insects and small birds from getting to your plants.

It should be removed when it is no longer needed. Many fleeces can be stored for use the next year. Horticultural fleece and garden fleece are one and the same product.

MAINCROP PEAS

Maincrop peas are the last group of garden peas to produce a crop. This will occur approximately 15 to 16 weeks after they were sown.

MAINCROP POTATOES

Maincrop potato varieties are the last to mature and will be ready to start harvesting about 130 days after they are planted in their growing site (open ground or containers).

MARROWFAT PEAS

Marrowfat peas are normal garden peas which have been allowed to fully mature and dry out before being harvested. In the UK they are famous for being used to make 'mushy peas' and also as an addition to soups and stews. They are also considered a delicacy in other parts of world, Japan in particular, especially as wasabi peas.

MULCH

Mulch traps moisture in the soil but at the same time the surface of the mulch will tend to remain drier than the soil below. This will deter fungal growth which can harm many plants. Mulch also deters weed growth and speeds up the warming of soil in spring.

There are various types of material which can be used as a mulch. The ideal ones are garden compost, well rotted manure and / or wood chip. Simply spread the mulch over the soil (but not touching plant stems) to an ideal depth of 8cm to 10cm (3 to 4 inches) - do not dig it in. It will last a full season and only need topping up in subsequent years.

Another type of mulch is woven fabric which can easily be bought online or at garden centres. Make sure that this type of mulch will allow water to pass through. I have never had much luck with this type of mulch. It is not much use when you are sowing seeds. When the seeds germinate they will be unable to push through the mulch.

ORGANIC MATTER FOR GARDENERS

A good definition of organic matter (as used in gardening) is matter that was previously living, this includes matter from plants and animals.

Organic matter can be used principally to improve the condition of a soil or to improve the fertility of a soil. In many cases it does both depending on what organic matter is used.

Bulky organic matter, such as garden and kitchen waste, manures, woodchip etc., will principally improve the condition of the soil but will have only a minor impact on its fertility.

Some non-bulky matter, for example chicken manure will do little to improve the condition of the soil but will improve fertility where the non-bulky organic matter contains nutrients which are missing from the soil.

This distinction between different types of organic matter is important for successful plant cultivation. To help clarify the difference, and its importance, we have produced a page on the subject which can be found here.

PEAS MAINCROP

Maincrop peas are garden peas which are ready for harvest about 15 weeks after they have been sowed. If you have followed our advice on the best time to sow peas, this will be first week of April in average areas of the UK

POTTING UP

Potting up is the process of transferring a plant from one plant to a larger pot. The purpose if doing this is to allow more room for the roots to grow into more soil, enabling them to absorb more nutrients and moisture in order to support a larger plant.

Take the example where a seed is sown into an 8cm / 3in pot and you want the final size of the pot to be 25cm / 10in. If you transfer the plant from the 8cm / 3in pot straight into a 25cm / 10in pot there is the real risk that the plant may become water-logged.

To avoid this we would suggest first transferring the plant to 13cm / 5in pot. When the roots have expanded into that pot transfer it into an 18cm / 7in pot. Finally when the roots have spread into that pot, transfer the plant into the final 25cm / 10in pot.

SEED POTATOES

A seed potato is a young small potato intended to be used to grow potatoes later in the year.

There are key differences between a potato sold in the shops for eating and a seed potato:

1. Potatoes sold in shops are almost always sprayed to help prevent them producing sprouts. Seed potatoes are never sprayed in this manner because you need the sprouts to grow and form new plants.
    
2. Seed potatoes are grown in controlled conditions which inhibit the spread of disease. This is why seed potatoes tend to be grown in cooler areas (e.g. Scotland) where the spread of disease is less likely to occur.
    
3. Seed potatoes are smaller than the equivalent fully grown potato.

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