Chaff: the husks of corn or other seeds separated by winnowing or threshing.
Cover Crop: a crop grown to "cover" the soil and prevent erosion. These crops are grown after the primary crop is harvested. Fast-growing annuals are ideal choices.
Cross-pollination: when pollen is exchanged between flowers from the same or different plants.
Days to Maturity: the number of days between planting and first harvest.
Heirloom: varieties whose seed lines have been maintained and passed down by gardeners and farmers over generations, prized for traits such as appearance, fragrance, and flavor.
Hybrid: varieties resulting from natural or artificial pollination between genetically distinct parents. Commercially produced plants are often hybrids bred for specific characteristics.
- (F1)Hybrid: "F" stands for filial or offspring. F1 is the first generation of offspring after cross-pollination. Often F1 hybrids produce sterile offspring or offspring which is unlike the parent.
Open Pollinated (OP): open-pollination varieties are stable varieties resulting from pollination between the same or genetically similar parents. Not hybrids.
Self-pollination: when pollination takes place within a single flower. Self-pollinating plants do not require other flowers or plants to pollinate it. Isolation or separation of self-pollinating plants within the garden is not necessary.
Threshing: process of loosening the edible part of a cereal grain, or other crop, from the surrounding chaff. This step takes place between harvesting and winnowing.
Umbels: a flower cluster in which stalks of nearly equal length spring from a common center and form a flat or curved surface, characteristic of the parsley family.
Wind-pollination: when pollen is carried from one flower to another by the wind.
Winnowing: blowing a current of air through (grain) in order to remove the chaff. This step takes place after threshing.