Vegetable and gardening trivia

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Vegetable and gardening trivia

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sarahp1

Joined: 16 Jan 2012
Posts: 68
Location: Warwickshire

Posted: Tue Aug 21, 12 6:22 pm Post subject: Vegetable and gardening trivia

I am putting together a quiz for an allotment society social function. Does anyone have any scintillating titbits I could use? I have looked at quite a few online ones are not finding inspiration.

I will give one to get us started. Spermology is the study of seeds, but did you know it is also the study of trivia? I was asked this in a quiz at high school and never forgot.

Last edited by sarahp1 on Tue Aug 21, 12 7:05 pm; edited 1 time in total

Green Rosie

Joined: 13 May 2007
Posts: 10498
Location: Calvados, France

Posted: Tue Aug 21, 12 7:02 pm Post subject:
The French word for Yew is If.

Luath

Joined: 03 Dec 2009
Posts: 761

Posted: Tue Aug 21, 12 8:30 pm Post subject:

How about some of the funnier named veg?

eg Lazy Housewife - type of climbing bean, so-called as it's easy to shell

Fat Lazy Blonde - lettuce, big, pale green and slow to bolt

Nun's Belly button - another type of climbing bean

Yin and yang bean - coloured black and white, also known as orca as it also resembles a whale

Mortgage Lifter tomato - supposedly bred by an American grower who managed to sell enough of them to pay off his mortgage

Couer du bue - bull's heart tomato, because of its shape

I always found an anagram round useful too when doing all sorts of quizzes; there are anagram finder sites on the net - you just type in the word/s and they will give you it back in anagram form.

Names of old tools and what they were used for can be another good one, needs a bit of research, but interesting to do.

Picture round too, relieves the quiz of a bit of wordiness and you can have a bit of fun - celebrity gardeners, unusual plants, garden items from unusual angles, name the weed etc

Hope that helps

jamanda
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 22 Oct 2006
Posts: 35057
Location: Devon

Posted: Tue Aug 21, 12 10:45 pm Post subject:
How about a music round? Rambling Rose (Nat King Cole) Beware of the Flowers (John Ottway) Flowers in the Rain (The move) Margarita (The Travelling Wilburys) Loads about grass, blue, whispering, green etc

Mustang

Joined: 15 Jul 2005
Posts: 768
Location: Sunny Suffolk

Posted: Tue Aug 21, 12 10:53 pm Post subject:
Another round .. which is fruit, which is vegetable, which is flower, which is nut, which is berry etc. Then give them a variety of things to categorise... apple, tomato, potato, raspberry, fig, etc. .

Mustang

Joined: 15 Jul 2005
Posts: 768
Location: Sunny Suffolk

Posted: Tue Aug 21, 12 10:57 pm Post subject:
A picture round ... show a close-up of a part of a fruit, veg etc, then get people to guess what it comes from. Eg a seed inside a passion fruit, or a closeup of the inside of a dragon fruit, a hair from a rambutan, etc. .

jamanda
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 22 Oct 2006
Posts: 35057
Location: Devon

Posted: Tue Aug 21, 12 10:58 pm Post subject:
Hmm. Some things are botanically fruits, but cullinarily vegetables (which is meaningless botanically) - like tomatoes - then there are things like strawberries which are actually swollen receptacles rather than ovaries like true fruits. That way lies a minefield in my opinion Could be good for inciting (sorry encouraging) robust discussion.

sarahp1

Joined: 16 Jan 2012
Posts: 68
Location: Warwickshire

Posted: Wed Aug 22, 12 1:08 pm Post subject:

Love the suggestions!

If I do a music round, I might have to get my other half to do it (his music knowledge is much broader than mine!).

I have thought of a few along the botanical classification lines, like
What fruit commonly grown in the UK is actually a vegetable?
What part of the plant are you eating when eating celery? and
What fruit or vegetable crops have male and female flowers?

For the picture round I thought I would actually put seeds in some old slide pouches I have for them to identify. I thought of exotics and diseases... and I might work some of these in too.

Luath - I love the crazy cultivar names. Will definately include a few of those! I hadn't thought of anagrams... but you are right there has to be atleast one. And just mentioned to music round idea to Lee and he's already come up with a few stirling numbers to put in (his first suggestion was The Wurzles - I have got a new combine harvester!).

Luath

Joined: 03 Dec 2009
Posts: 761

Posted: Wed Aug 22, 12 2:42 pm Post subject:
I've written and organised more quizzes on gardening and other subjects than I care to remember It's bet to have a very varied selection of rounds, easier questions mixed in, so everyone can feel they can have a go. Nothing more dispiriting than a hard quiz that's no fun.

sarahp1

Joined: 16 Jan 2012
Posts: 68
Location: Warwickshire

Posted: Wed Aug 22, 12 3:55 pm Post subject:
I've been working on the history and lit rounds for something out of the ordinary... and made sure there is something for everyone

Mustang

Joined: 15 Jul 2005
Posts: 768
Location: Sunny Suffolk

Posted: Wed Aug 22, 12 10:44 pm Post subject:

Jamanda wrote:

Hmm. Some things are botanically fruits, but cullinarily vegetables (which is meaningless botanically) - like tomatoes - then there are things like strawberries which are actually swollen receptacles rather than ovaries like true fruits. That way lies a minefield in my opinion

Could be good for inciting (sorry encouraging) robust discussion.

Exactly! Lots of scope to surprise people (e.g. raspberries are not berries whilst bananas are).

sarahp1

Joined: 16 Jan 2012
Posts: 68
Location: Warwickshire

Posted: Thu Aug 23, 12 12:00 am Post subject:
From what I recall from 2nd year botany a raspberry is actually an aggregate of berries...

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