I found some new gardening terms this week from reading Making Things Grow Outdoors:
Tilth: \”This, by the way, is what the experts mean when they tell us to keep the soil rich and in good tilth.\”
Tilth is the rough texture in soil
Spit, Humus: \”If you have not found it [subsoil] by the time you have gone down two spits, the garden has an excellent depth of humus…\”
S- the depth of a shovel blade
H- dark brown or black substance consisting of decayed animal and plant matter in soil
Crozier: \”A whole generation of so-called gardeners are living in houses surrounded by land in which beans never uncurl like croziers from the soil…\”
The curled end of a young frond, or a crook on the end of a bishop\’s staff
Visit the host of Wondrous Words Wednesday at Bermudaonion\’s Weblog.
8 Responses
Great words! I\’d only ever heard the word crozier as a last name (as in the poet Lorna Crozier), so I\’m interested to hear it means something! The only word I was familiar with is humus.My words are here.
Spits reminds me of Bill Cosby\’s routine about Noah building the ark. What\’s a cubit? Of course, you\’re probably way too young to remember that. My words are here
Avianschild- Crozier was the word I really blinked at in the text: what does this mean? The others were explained in the next sentence, usually.Kaye- I did watch Cosby when I was young, but I don\’t remember him every talking about Noah\’s ark! (But I did have Bible study class when I was a teen, and I\’m sure the exact length of a cubit was explained to me, though now of course I\’ve forgotten!)
Interesting words. At first I could believe you didn\’t know what spit was. When I saw the sentence, I realized I didn\’t know what it was either. Thanks for playing along.
I feel like I\’ve encountered \”tilth\” before. Informative roundup, as usual.
This is the first post in which I knew all of the words. My gardening days paid off. Sounds like a good book. Hope you\’re enjoying it.
Bermudaonion- I thought someone might think that! Anonymous Child- Thank you.Margot- Yes, I am! It\’s one of the best gardening books I\’ve read.
I really like \”tilth.\” Now to find opportunities to use it in casual conversation…