Horticulture Farming

About This Course

Horticulture involves the cultivation of plants in gardens for various uses, such as food production, medicinal applications, and ornamental displays. Horticulturists are specialists in agriculture who focus on growing a variety of plants including flowers, fruits, nuts, vegetables, herbs, and ornamental trees and lawns. While the temperate zones suitable for horticulture are not strictly defined by geographical boundaries, they generally encompass areas where winter frost occurs, such as most of Europe, North America, and northern Asia. Regions like southern Florida are classified as subtropical. A key practice in horticulture is propagation, which refers to the controlled reproduction of plants to increase their numbers and preserve essential traits. This can be accomplished through sexual methods, such as seed production, or asexual methods like cutting, layering, grafting, and tissue culture. Additionally, plant breeding employs genetic principles to enhance horticultural crops, making improvements both scientific and systematic.