Principles of Horticulture: Level 2

Charles Adams, Mike Early, Jane Brook, Katherine Bamford

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2014
• ISBN:
  9781317937760
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Commerce
• Subtopic: Industrie de l'hôtellerie, du voyage et du tourisme

This colourful guide will introduce you to the fundamentals of horticulture, whether you are taking a Level 2 RHS, City and Guilds or BTEC course, are a keen amateur or seasoned gardener. Written in a clear and accessible style, this book covers the principles that underpin growing plants for the garden and allotment; with reference to how these are tackled by professionals. With highlighted definitions, key points, and illustrated in full colour, this book will be a useful companion as you progress in the study and practice of horticulture.

		1
	CHAPTER
	Level 2

Horticulture and gardening

Figure 1.1 Decorative border

This chapter includes the following topics:

• The nature of horticulture and gardening

• The horticultural industry

• The plant

• Ecology and gardening

• Sustainability

• Organic gardening

• Conservation

Principles of Horticulture. 978-0-415-85908-0 © C.R. Adams, K.M. Bamford, J.E. Brook and M.P. Early. Published by Taylor & Francis. All rights reserved.

Figure 1.2 A garden idyll

The nature of horticulture and gardening

Most of us are familiar with plants through our gardens and gardening. Around us are examples of gardens that are little more than surrounds to houses with the priority being to provide standing room for the car, utility areas and a place to sit out when the weather is good enough; the owners’ emphasis is probably on minimizing the workload with much hard surface. For others, the area is an opportunity to provide an attractive view, to enhance the look of the property or to have a safe playing area, but without wanting to be more involved with the plants than necessary. Again the emphasis is likely to be on minimizing their input, with a person brought in considered to be a good solution to dealing with the time required and complications to keep good order. In contrast, gardeners consider their garden to be where they fulfil their wish to work with plants and seek to create their ‘paradise on earth’ (see Figure 1.2).

We learn quickly that gardening is not a simple process because it is a dynamic situation that we face. Plants and plantings change over time. Over the year there are seasonal changes; and as time passes the plants grow in size. Both these have significant consequences in attaining and maintaining what we wish to achieve. We can choose between rigorously maintaining our planned garden or allow it to evolve. There are many skills and techniques associated with both ways forward: planting and replanting; controlling the size of the plant; allowing plants to spread by seed or vegetative means such as runners or placing plants according to carefully devised plans; but, probably above all, selecting the right plant for the situation in the first place. It is an ongoing job for the gardener to hold at bay the undesirable plants and weeds while protecting their chosen ones from the attack of pests and diseases.

A gardener benefits from knowing about the factors that may improve or harm their plant’s growth and development. The main aim of this book is to provide an understanding of how these factors contribute to the ideal performance of the plant in particular circumstances. For many gardeners, their intention is to apply the knowledge to improve their garden or allotment. Many others are seeking to build on what can be learned in the private garden in order for them to widen their interests, or seek professional or semiprofessional employment.

What goes on in our gardens gives us all an insight into the wider world of horticulture.

The horticultural industry

Most of us are familiar with the products of the horticultural industry in terms of the fruit, vegetables, plants and flowers that we buy. The orchards and the fields of vegetables and flowers that we see on our travels give us some idea of the area over which outdoor production is undertaken (see Figure 1.3). The huge blocks of polythene tunnels or greenhouses indicate that protected cropping is being undertaken on a scale very different from the greenhouse in the garden (one of the largest tomato producers in Britain and Ireland has a block of 18 hectares, i.e. it could contain 36 football pitches). Even from the road we are able to note, in general terms, the work being done over the year and the wide range of equipment being used in the fields. Less obvious is what exactly is being done and the technology involved, especially with the protected crops. Protected cropping enables plant material to be supplied outside its normal season and to ensure high quality – for example, chrysanthemums all the year round, tomatoes to a high specification over an extended season, and cucumbers from an area where the climate is not otherwise suitable. Also out of sight is all the work being done with specialist equipment in the packing sheds where so much is undertaken, including the processing and grading as well as the packaging of what we see in the shops.

For many, leisure time will be spent in parks, the stately homes or the great gardens of the country where professionals, and some skilled amateurs, are employed in establishing and maintaining what we are more familiar with on a small scale: borders and lawns. Those of us whose leisure includes sport, playing or watching all too easily take for granted the preparation of the surfaces and surrounds of the field of play. Turf culture is a specialist part of horticulture that is concerned with the establishment and maintenance of decorative lawns and sports surfaces for football, cricket, golf and so on.

Figure 1.3 Bulb field

Parts of the industry also come close to our own gardens. Garden construction involves the skills of construction (hard landscaping) together with the development of planted areas (soft landscaping). Closely associated with this sector is grounds maintenance, the maintenance of trees and woodlands (arboriculture and tree surgery) and jobbing gardeners who do so much to maintain and improve our domestic gardens.

The garden centre is where most gardeners see the work of the industry in more detail. But again, this is only the shop front of a large sector that specializes in producing plants in containers for us to put into our garden. A few have some plant production on site, but stock is usually bought in. The hardy ornamental nursery stock (HONS) sector is concerned with supplying not just the garden centres, but also all the other sectors of horticulture including the production of soil-grown or container-grown shrubs and trees (see Figure 1.4) and the young stock of soft fruit (strawberries etc.), cane fruit (raspberries etc.) and top fruit (apples, pears etc.). These plants are supplied in the following ways (see Figure 1.5):

Figure 1.4 A Hardy Nursery Stock area

Figure 1.5 a) bare root b) root-balled c) containerized d) container grown

► Bare-rooted plants are taken from open ground in the dormant period. These are cheaper but only available for a limited period and need to be planted out in the autumn or spring when conditions are suitable. In practice, this is mainly October and March. Roots should be kept moist until planted and covered with wet sacking while waiting. Plants received well before the time for permanent planting out should be ‘heeled in’ (i.e. temporary planting in a trench to cover the roots).

► Root-balled plants are grown in open ground, but removed with soil and the root ball secured by sacking (hessian). This natural material does not need to be removed at planting and will break down in the soil. This reduces the problems associated with transplanting larger plants.

► Containerized plants are also grown in open ground, but transferred to contai...