Olericulture is the science of vegetable

Vegetable

The noun vegetable usually means an edible plant or part of a plant other than a sweet fruit or seed. This typically means the leaf, stem, or root of a plant....

 growing, dealing with the culture of non-woody (herbaceous

Herbaceous

A herbaceous plant is a plant that has leaves and stems that die down at the end of the growing season to the soil level. They have no persistent woody stem above ground...

) plants for food.

Olericulture is the production of plants for use of the edible parts. Vegetable crops can be classified into 9 major categories:

• Potherbs and greens
  Leaf vegetable
  Leaf vegetables, also called potherbs, green vegetables, greens, leafy greens or salad greens, are plant leaves eaten as a vegetable, sometimes accompanied by tender petioles and shoots...
  
   - spinach and collards
• Salad
  Salad
  Salad is any of a wide variety of dishes, including vegetable salads; salads of pasta, legumes, eggs, or grains; mixed salads incorporating meat, poultry, or seafood; and fruit salads. They may include a mixture of cold and hot, often including raw vegetables or fruits.Green salads include leaf...
  
   crops - lettuce, celery
• Cole
  Cole
  -Places:Antarctic*Cole Peninsula, a peninsula on the continent of AntarcticaCanada*Cole Harbour, Nova Scotia, a community of Halifax Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia**Cole Harbour**Cole Harbour , Nova ScotiaEngland*Cole, SomersetPoland...
  
   crops - cabbage and cauliflower
• Root crops (tubers) - potatoes, beets, carrots, radishes
• Bulb
  Bulb
  A bulb is a short stem with fleshy leaves or leaf bases. The leaves often function as food storage organs during dormancy.A bulb's leaf bases, known as scales, generally do not support leaves, but contain food reserves to enable the plant to survive adverse conditions. At the center of the bulb is...
  
   crops - onions, leeks
• Legumes - beans, peas
• Cucurbits
  Cucurbitaceae
  The plant family Cucurbitaceae consists of various squashes, melons, and gourds, including crops such as cucumber, pumpkins, luffas, and watermelons...
  
   - melons, squash, cucumber
• Solanaceous crops - tomatoes, peppers
• Sweet corn

Olericulture deals with the production, storage, processing and marketing of vegetables. It encompasses crop establishment, including cultivar

Cultivar

A cultivar'Cultivar has two meanings as explained under Formal definition. When used in reference to a taxon, the word does not apply to an individual plant but to all those plants sharing the unique characteristics that define the cultivar. is a plant or group of plants selected for desirable...

 selection, seedbed preparation and establishment of vegetable crops by seed and transplants.

It also includes maintenance and care of vegetable crops as well commercial and non-traditional vegetable crop production including organic gardening and organic farming

Organic farming

Organic farming is the form of agriculture that relies on techniques such as crop rotation, green manure, compost and biological pest control to maintain soil productivity and control pests on a farm...

; sustainable agriculture

Sustainable agriculture

Sustainable agriculture is the practice of farming using principles of ecology, the study of relationships between organisms and their environment...

 and horticulture; hydroponics

Hydroponics

Hydroponics is a method of growing plants using mineral nutrient solutions, in water, without soil. Terrestrial plants may be grown with their roots in the mineral nutrient solution only or in an inert medium, such as perlite, gravel, mineral wool, or coconut husk.Researchers discovered in the 18th...

; and biotechnology

Biotechnology

Biotechnology is a field of applied biology that involves the use of living organisms and bioprocesses in engineering, technology, medicine and other fields requiring bioproducts. Biotechnology also utilizes these products for manufacturing purpose...

.

See also

• Agriculture
  Agriculture
  Agriculture is the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life. Agriculture was the key implement in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that nurtured the...
  
   -- the cultivation of animals, plants, fungi and other life forms for food, fiber, and other products used to sustain life.
• Horticulture
  Horticulture
  Horticulture is the industry and science of plant cultivation including the process of preparing soil for the planting of seeds, tubers, or cuttings. Horticulturists work and conduct research in the disciplines of plant propagation and cultivation, crop production, plant breeding and genetic...
  
   -- the industry and science of plant cultivation including the process of preparing soil for the planting of seeds, tubers, or cuttings.
• Pomology
  Pomology
  Pomology is a branch of botany that studies and cultivates pome fruit, particularly from the genera Malus, Prunus and Pyrus belonging to the Rosaceae. The term is sometimes applied more broadly, to the cultivation of any type of fruit...
  
   --a branch of botany that studies and cultivates pome fruit, and sometimes applied more broadly, to the cultivation of any type of fruit.
• Trophort
  Trophort
  TropHort is an abbreviation for Tropical Horticulture. Tropical Horticulture is a branch of horticulture that studies and cultivates garden plants in the tropics, i.e., the equatorial regions of the world....
  
   -- a branch of horticulture that studies and cultivates garden plants in the tropics, i.e., the equatorial regions of the world.
• Vegetable
  Vegetable
  The noun vegetable usually means an edible plant or part of a plant other than a sweet fruit or seed. This typically means the leaf, stem, or root of a plant....