Pollination: moving pollen from one plant to another to enable fertilization.
Potassium (K): promotes plant metabolism; found in wood ash, sawdust, granite
dust, cocoa shell dust, and fi sh emulsion.Rhizobia: bacteria found in legume roots that helps convert atmospheric nitro
gen, enhancing plant growth.
Rotation: a means to avoid the buildup of pests, diseases, and so on, that are at
tracted to certain plant families by periodically changing location. Also, some
plants take from the soil, some return to the soil; rotating crops improves the
soil quality overall.Sets: usually purchased in small bundles, these are immature plants, usually
onions.
Side dressing: fertilizer sprinkled to one side of a plant and scratched lightly into
the surface; liquids can be sprayed (such as fish fertilizer and compost tea).Soil/fertile: many plant nutrients, well-drained and aerated.
Th inning: fine seeds (like lettuce and carrots) are removed when young to pro-
vide space and nutrition to those remaining.Tilth: soil surface that is fine, crumbles easily, but is not dry; very suitable for
seed germination.
Warm season: plants that need 75ºF for minimum growth; soil temperature be
tween 65ºF and 80ºF.Whitefl y: a tiny white moth-like insect that hides in colonies under green leaves,
which turn yellow and wilt; use orange sticky card traps or spray with neem oil.Width: air circulation is a necessity; don’t risk overcrowding ; allow enough space
for plant to reach full maturity.
Yellows: a range of diseases that cause stunted growth and yellow leaves.
Zones: temperature range best suited to plant, based on first and last frost
predictions.HOW TO GROW, HOW TO COOK • 61