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Useful Gardening Terms You Must Know | Gardening Basics Part 1
Guerrilla Gardening
This means gardening on land that the gardeners do not have the legal rights or permission to cultivate, such as abandoned sites or public properties – the commonest example is gardening outside our homes, like alongside the footpaths or similar areas.
Leaf Galls / Leaf Bumps
These are odd little bumps or funny-looking protuberances on leaves. This can be an indication of pest attack, usually the result of mites and other sucking insects that make their homes under the plant tissue.
Deadheading
Similar to pruning or pinching branches to promote more branching, deadheading means removing faded or dry and dead flowers from your plant. Just cut off the twig holding the flower or the entire branch if there are no more flowers or buds left. This diverts the plant’s energy into more blooming and more branching rather than setting seeds for reproduction.
Humus
A black or brown organic substance made up of decomposed vegetable waste or even animal matter. This includes decaying leaves, insects, twigs, and many other materials. Composted food and garden scraps are human-made humus. This is very useful and provides many essential nutrients for plants.
Hardening Off
To gradually acclimatize your seedlings to outdoor sunlight, temperature, wind, and humidity before transplanting them into the garden or containers. A general rule of thumb is to introduce them gradually to sunlight, like 1 hour for day 1, 2 hours for day 2, 3 hours for day 3, and so on.
Biological Pest Control
Using living organisms such as beneficial insects or parasites like ladybugs to destroy garden pests. Watch a detailed video on these useful insects from a card linked at the top right corner of this video.
Chlorosis
A yellowing or blanching of the leaves due to lack of chlorophyll, nutrient deficiencies, or disease. Watch a detailed video on diagnosing and treating this leaf yellowing problem from a card linked at the top right corner of this video.
Foliar Feeding or Fertilizing
A technique of feeding plants by applying liquid fertilizer directly to plant leaves. This is generally done using a sprayer or mister with liquid fertilizers like seaweed extract or even various teas like compost tea, bone tea, and water-soluble NPK feed.
Worm Casting or Vermicompost
This is nothing but the digested organic waste of earthworms – that is, the excreta of earthworms. Gardeners consider them the most nutrient-rich organic compost available, which also includes various essential micronutrients for your plants.
Damping Off
A disease or condition that causes seedlings to weaken and die. The decay or rotting of young seedlings at ground level follows fungal attack. This is often due to soil-borne diseases and overwatering. Damping off can also result in failure of seed germination or may result in poor germination and weaker seedlings. One way to prevent damping off is to use a sterile potting mix instead of ordinary garden soil. Also, use clean, new pots or sterilize used pots with one part bleach to 10 parts water. When you sow seeds, leave room for good air circulation. Water seeds and seedlings from the bottom using the tray method.
Watch Video demonstration of Useful Gardening Terminology below:
