87 terms in 8 topics
Gardening terms, explained
The words you'll see on seed packets and planting charts, in plain language.
Start here: the words on every planting calendar
- Last frost date The date after which freezing nights usually stop in spring.
- First frost date The date the first fall freeze usually arrives.
- Sow seeds Planting seeds straight into the garden soil where they'll grow, instead of starting them in pots.
- Start seeds indoors Sowing seeds in trays inside, under lights or in a sunny window, weeks before it's warm enough outside.
- Starts Young plants grown in small pots, either by you indoors or bought at a nursery, then planted in the garden.
- Hardening off Getting indoor seedlings used to sun, wind and cool nights by setting them outside for a few hours a day, longer each day, for about a week before planting.
- Set out Moving young plants (starts) from their pots into the garden.
All terms by topic
Frost and dates6 terms: Last frost date, First frost date, Frost and hard freeze…
- Last frost date
- The date after which freezing nights usually stop in spring. Rainline Garden uses the typical (median) date: in half of years the last frost comes later, so tender crops wait longer.See also: First frost date · Frost-free season
- First frost date
- The date the first fall freeze usually arrives. Warm-season crops die at the first frost; cool-season crops keep going.See also: Last frost date · Frost and hard freeze
- Frost and hard freeze
- A frost here means the air reaches 32°F, which damages tender crops like tomatoes, basil and squash. A hard freeze, about 28°F or colder for several hours, is what finally stops hardy crops like kale and cabbage.
- Frost-free season
- The number of days between the last spring frost and the first fall frost. It's your growing season for tomatoes, squash and other tender crops.
- Days to harvest
- Roughly how long from planting outdoors until the first harvest. Seed packets list it; it's longer in cool summers.
- Climate normals
- 30-year averages of weather measured at a station, published by NOAA. Rainline Garden's frost dates come from the 1991–2020 normals, so they describe a typical year, not a forecast.See also: Last frost date · First frost date
Planting19 terms: Sow seeds, Start seeds indoors, Starts…
- Sow seeds (direct sow)
- Planting seeds straight into the garden soil where they'll grow, instead of starting them in pots.
- Start seeds indoors
- Sowing seeds in trays inside, under lights or in a sunny window, weeks before it's warm enough outside. It gives slow crops like tomatoes and peppers a head start.See also: Hardening off · Starts
- Starts (transplants)
- Young plants grown in small pots, either by you indoors or bought at a nursery, then planted in the garden.See also: Start seeds indoors · Set out
- Hardening off
- Getting indoor seedlings used to sun, wind and cool nights by setting them outside for a few hours a day, longer each day, for about a week before planting.See also: Start seeds indoors · Set out
- Set out (plant out)
- Moving young plants (starts) from their pots into the garden. Planting calendars give a set-out window for crops grown from starts, like tomatoes, peppers and kale.See also: Hardening off · Starts
- Germination
- When a seed sprouts. Seeds need moisture and warm enough soil; in cold, wet soil they sprout slowly or rot.See also: Soil temperature · Damping off
- Seedling and true leaves
- A seedling is a young plant just up from seed. Its first leaves (seed leaves) look different from the grown plant's; the next ones, its true leaves, look like the real thing. Thin seedlings or move them to bigger pots once true leaves appear.See also: Thinning · Leggy
- Leggy
- Seedlings or plants that grow tall, thin and floppy, usually from too little light.See also: Seedling and true leaves
- Potting mix
- Light, fluffy soil made for pots and containers. Garden soil packs down too hard in a pot, so containers need potting mix and drainage holes.
- Cool-season crop
- A crop that grows best in cool weather and handles light frost, like peas, lettuce, kale and carrots. Plant these in early spring and again for fall.See also: Warm-season crop · Hardy and tender
- Warm-season crop
- A crop that's killed by frost and needs warm soil, like tomatoes, beans, squash and basil. Plant these after the last frost once the soil warms.See also: Cool-season crop · Soil temperature
- Hardy and tender
- A hardy plant handles frost and cold. A tender (frost-tender) plant is damaged or killed by frost. Kale and garlic are hardy; tomatoes, basil and squash are tender.See also: Cool-season crop · Warm-season crop
- Annual and perennial
- An annual grows, flowers, makes seed and dies in one season, like lettuce, beans and tomatoes. A perennial comes back year after year, like asparagus, rhubarb, strawberries and fruit trees. A biennial, like parsley, flowers in its second year.
- Succession planting
- Sowing a short row every two or three weeks instead of all at once, so you get a steady harvest.
- Thinning
- Pulling out extra seedlings so the rest have room to grow. Carrots, beets and radishes need it.
- Onion sets
- Small dormant onion bulbs you plant instead of seeds. They're the easiest way to grow onions, though young plants (starts) usually make bigger bulbs.
- Seed potatoes
- Potatoes grown to be planted, certified free of disease. Grocery-store potatoes are often treated to stop sprouting.See also: Hilling
- Bulbs, tubers and corms
- Swollen underground parts that store food for a plant's next season. Onions, garlic and tulips grow from bulbs (a garlic bulb splits into cloves), potatoes and dahlias from tubers, and gladiolus and crocus from corms.
- Bare-root
- Plants sold while dormant with no soil around the roots, like fruit trees, berries and asparagus in late winter. They're cheaper and settle in fast.
Weather and your yard7 terms: Full sun and part shade, Rain shadow, Microclimate…
- Full sun and part shade
- Full sun means six or more hours of direct sun a day; most vegetables need it, and tomatoes, squash and peppers want eight or more. Part shade usually means three to six hours of direct sun, or bright, filtered light all day.
- Rain shadow
- The dry area on the downwind side of a mountain range. Storms drop their rain on the west slopes of the Cascades, so the east side gets far less.
- Microclimate
- A spot that's warmer, colder, wetter or drier than the town around it, like the bed against a south-facing wall or a low, shady corner.See also: Frost pocket
- Frost pocket
- A low spot where cold air settles on still nights, so frost hits there first in fall and lingers longest in spring.See also: Microclimate
- Hardiness zone
- A USDA number based on how cold your winters get. It tells you which perennials, shrubs and trees will survive, not when to plant vegetables.
- Soil temperature
- How warm the soil is a few inches down. In the Northwest it lags weeks behind the air, which is why warm crops wait. A soil thermometer costs about $10.
- Native plant
- A plant that grew wild in the region before gardens were planted here. Northwest natives are used to wet winters and dry summers, and they feed the hundreds of native bee species that live here.
Soil and feeding10 terms: Compost, Cover crop, Crop rotation…
- Compost
- Rotted plant scraps, leaves and manure. Mixed into soil, it feeds plants, loosens clay and helps sandy soil hold water.
- Cover crop
- A crop like crimson clover or cereal rye sown in empty beds over winter to protect and feed the soil.
- Crop rotation
- Planting each vegetable family in a different bed each year, so soil diseases and pests that build up under one family don't keep hitting it.See also: Clubroot · Cover crop
- Fertilizer
- Food for plants. The three numbers on the bag are nitrogen (leafy growth), phosphorus (roots and flowers) and potassium (overall health). A balanced fertilizer has about the same amount of each.See also: Side-dressing · Compost
- Inoculant
- A powder of helpful bacteria you coat pea and bean seeds with. The bacteria help the plants pull nitrogen from the air.
- Lime
- Ground limestone added to make acidic soil less acidic. Rainy west-side soils often need it; a soil test tells you how much.See also: Soil pH
- Mulch
- A layer of straw, leaves, compost or plastic on top of the soil. It holds moisture, smothers weeds and, if dark plastic, warms the soil.
- Raised bed
- A garden bed built up above the ground, often inside a wood frame. It drains and warms faster in wet Northwest springs.
- Side-dressing
- Adding fertilizer or compost along a row or around plants partway through the season, when hungry crops start to need more.See also: Fertilizer
Seeds and varieties10 terms: Heirloom, Open-pollinated, Hybrid…
- Heirloom
- An old variety passed down for generations. If you save its seeds, you get the same plant next year.See also: Open-pollinated · Hybrid
- Open-pollinated
- Seeds made by natural pollination that grow into plants like the parent. All heirlooms are open-pollinated.See also: Heirloom · Hybrid
- Hybrid (F1)
- A variety made by crossing two different parents. Hybrids are often vigorous or disease resistant, but seeds saved from them won't grow true.See also: Heirloom · Open-pollinated
- Determinate and indeterminate
- Determinate (bush) tomatoes grow to a set size and ripen most of their fruit at once. Indeterminate (vining) tomatoes keep growing and fruiting until frost and need tall stakes.See also: Cordon · Pinching
- Bush and pole beans
- Bush beans grow into a short plant that needs no support; they produce sooner but give most of their crop in a couple of weeks. Pole beans climb a trellis or poles and keep producing longer.
- Hardneck and softneck garlic
- Hardneck garlic has a stiff center stalk, bigger cloves and better cold tolerance. Softneck stores longer and can be braided.See also: Garlic scape
- Pollination
- Moving pollen between flowers so they can turn into fruit. Bees do most of it; squash, berries and fruit trees all depend on it.See also: Pollinator · Fruit set
- Pollinator
- An animal that carries pollen from flower to flower, mostly bees, but also flies, butterflies, moths and hummingbirds.See also: Pollination · Native plant
- Fruit set
- When a pollinated flower starts to swell into a fruit. Cold nights below about 55°F can stop tomatoes and peppers setting fruit.
- Self-seeding
- When a plant drops seed that comes up on its own the next year. Dill, calendula and tomatillos often self-seed.
Care and tools15 terms: Bolting, Wall-o-water and cloches, Cold frame…
- Bolting
- When a leafy crop like spinach or lettuce suddenly sends up a flower stalk, usually in heat or long days. The leaves turn bitter, so harvest before it happens.
- Wall-o-water and cloches
- Covers that sit over a single plant to keep it warm. A wall-o-water is a ring of water-filled tubes that soaks up heat by day and releases it at night.See also: Row cover · Cold frame
- Cold frame
- A bottomless box with a clear lid that works like a small greenhouse, for early spring starts and late fall greens.See also: Row cover · Greenhouse and hoop house
- Cordon
- A plant trained to a single main stem, like a tall tomato tied to one stake or string with its side shoots pinched off. Apples and pears can be grown as cordons against a fence too.See also: Pinching · Determinate and indeterminate
- Curing
- Drying a harvest so it stores well: winter squash in a warm room, onions and garlic in a shady, airy spot.
- Cut-and-come-again
- Picking the outer leaves and leaving the center to keep growing, so one planting of lettuce, chard or kale feeds you for weeks.
- Deadheading
- Snipping off faded flowers so the plant keeps blooming instead of making seed. Dahlias and many other flowers bloom longer when deadheaded.
- Drip irrigation and soaker hose
- Hoses that leak water slowly right at the roots. They save water in dry summers and keep leaves dry, which helps prevent disease.
- Garlic scape
- The curly flower stalk on hardneck garlic. Cut it off in early summer so the bulb grows bigger; it's good to eat.See also: Hardneck and softneck garlic
- Hilling
- Piling soil or mulch up around the stems as plants grow, mostly potatoes and leeks. For potatoes it gives the tubers more room and keeps them covered so they don't turn green.See also: Seed potatoes
- Greenhouse and hoop house
- A greenhouse is a glass or plastic building that traps the sun's warmth. A hoop house is a cheaper version: plastic stretched over hoops. Either one helps heat-loving crops ripen in cool places.See also: Cold frame · Row cover
- Overwintering
- Keeping a crop in the ground through winter, like garlic, kale, leeks or fava beans, for an early harvest the next year.
- Pinching
- Nipping off the tip of a shoot to make a plant bushier, as with basil, or removing the side shoots (suckers) on vining tomatoes.See also: Cordon
- Row cover
- A light fabric laid over plants. It traps warmth, guards against light frost and keeps insects off.See also: Wall-o-water and cloches · Cold frame
- Staking and trellising
- Supports that hold plants up off the ground: stakes or cages for tomatoes, a trellis or netting for peas, pole beans and cucumbers.
Fruit, berries and trees10 terms: Cane, Crown, Dormant…
- Cane
- A long, woody stem on raspberries and blackberries. Most varieties fruit on canes in their second year, then those canes are cut out.See also: Primocane and floricane
- Crown
- The spot where a plant's stems meet its roots. Planting the crown too deep can rot strawberries, rhubarb and asparagus.
- Dormant
- Resting for winter, with no leaves or new growth. It's the best time to plant or prune many fruit trees and shrubs.
- Drip line
- The edge of a tree's canopy, where rain drips off the outer leaves. Most of a tree's feeding roots spread out to here and beyond.
- Primocane and floricane
- In its first year a raspberry or blackberry cane (a primocane) grows leaves; in its second year (as a floricane) it fruits and then dies. Primocane-fruiting raspberries also fruit in late summer and fall on the tips of the new canes.See also: Cane
- Pruning
- Cutting off branches or stems to shape a plant, remove dead or diseased wood and help it fruit. Many fruit trees and shrubs are pruned while dormant in late winter.
- Grafting and rootstock
- Most fruit trees are two plants joined together: the top (the variety) gives the fruit, and the rootstock below sets how big the tree grows.
- Runner
- A stem a strawberry plant sends along the ground that roots into a new plant. Pinch them off for bigger berries, or let them fill a bed.See also: June-bearing and day-neutral strawberries
- Self-fertile and pollinizer
- A self-fertile fruit tree or bush can set fruit with its own pollen. Others need a pollinizer: a second, different variety of the same fruit nearby that blooms at the same time.See also: Pollination
- June-bearing and day-neutral strawberries
- June-bearing plants produce one big crop over a few weeks in early summer. Day-neutral plants, often sold as everbearing, produce smaller flushes from early summer into fall.See also: Runner
Pests and plant problems10 terms: Aphids, Blossom end rot, Cabbage worms…
- Aphids
- Tiny soft insects, green, black or gray, that cluster on new growth and suck sap. A strong spray of water knocks them off, and ladybugs and other helpful insects eat them.
- Blossom end rot
- A dark, sunken patch on the bottom of tomatoes and peppers. It's linked to uneven watering, so water deeply and regularly and mulch.
- Cabbage worms
- Velvety green caterpillars of the white cabbage butterfly that chew holes in kale, cabbage and broccoli. Row cover keeps the butterflies from laying eggs.See also: Row cover
- Clubroot
- A soil disease that swells and twists the roots of cabbage-family crops. Raising soil pH with lime and rotating crops help keep it away.See also: Lime · Crop rotation
- Damping off
- When seedlings suddenly flop over at the soil line, caused by fungi in cold, wet soil. Use clean pots, fresh seed-starting mix and good airflow.
- Flea beetles
- Tiny jumping beetles that chew small holes in young leaves of arugula, radishes, eggplant and other crops, worst in hot, dry weather. Row cover helps, and plants usually outgrow light damage once they have a few sets of true leaves.See also: Row cover · Seedling and true leaves
- Late blight
- A disease that spreads fast in cool, wet weather, usually once fall rains start. Leaves get dark, greasy blotches and tomatoes turn brown and firm. Keep leaves dry and pick early.
- Powdery mildew
- A white, powdery coating on leaves, common on squash, cucumbers and peas in late summer. Dry soil invites it, so keep plants watered at the roots and give them room for air to move.
- Root rot
- Roots that turn brown and mushy in soil that stays soggy. The plant wilts even though the soil is wet. Good drainage, like a raised bed, prevents it.See also: Raised bed
- Slugs
- Snails without shells that chew holes in leaves and seedlings, mostly at night and after rain. Check at dusk and use traps or iron phosphate bait, which is safe around pets and food crops.