Fallow

FALLOW – Originally, this term meant fields plowed up after harvest and left unplanted; popularly, it is applied to any plowed land so left for several to many weeks. In a still more restricted sense, it is land allowed to lie uncultivated (or with only enough surface tillage to kill weeds) during one or more seasons in order to build up its productive capacity or starve out some particular pest, disease or weed. Though an important farming practice, fallowing is of limited application in home gardening, where it is much more desirable to keep idle ground under a cover-crop.