Growing Together: Terms every gardener should know

When I was about five years old, my Mom took me out into the garden with her, I suppose to keep an eye on me. I found it so fascinating, I’ve never left. I soon learned, though, that the language spoken in gardening isn’t normal English.

Mom said she was planting squash in a hill, but the dirt looked pretty flat to me. And when she said Grandma had taken a slip, I thought she’d tripped over one of her many scatter rugs.

I soon learned this strange language would take some getting used to. Someday I’ll write a book to interpret these phrases, many of which make little sense at first glance.

Following are examples of terms frequently used in gardening.

• “Pinch” means using the thumb and forefinger to remove tip growth, encouraging the plant to branch out. I guarantee the plant won’t say “ouch.”
• “Setting out” doesn’t mean you’re embarking on a journey, it means transplanting plants into the soil outdoors, as in setting out tomato plants in late May.
• “Heavy soil” has nothing to do with trying to lift a bucket of it, it refers to soil with a high proportion of clay particles, making it sticky and slippery when wet, and hard-packed when dry.
• “Blight” is an all-purpose term for a disease that causes spots, blemishes or discoloration of leaves, stems, fruit or flowers.
• “Rest period” isn’t what’s needed following an afternoon of pulling weeds. It’s the period of dormancy, often in bulbs, required before active growth resumes.
• A “weed” is any plant growing where we don’t want it. Wheat is a weed if it’s growing in my strawberry bed. All plant species are part of nature’s ecosystem somewhere.
• A “pesticide” is an umbrella term for any product used to kill “pests,” including insects (insecticide), weeds (herbicide), fungal diseases (fungicide) or rodents (rodenticide).
• A “slip” is an older term for a “cutting,” which is a portion of a plant used to induce rooting to form a new plant.

Michael Vosburg/The Forum

• “Forcing” a plant might sound unkind, but it’s simply coaxing it to grow or bloom outside its normal season, such as forcing a pot of tulips.
• “Media” is the mix in which plants are growing, not radio, television or Facebook.
• “Direct seeding” is planting seeds into a final location, as opposed to sowing in a seed tray and transplanting the resulting seedlings.
• “Potbound” refers to a potted plant whose roots are encircling and tightly filling the soil ball.  
• If a plant doesn’t like “wet feet,” it won’t grow well in a location that is frequently too wet and poorly drained.
• A “flat” isn’t a tire with a nail hole. It’s a greenhouse tray in which packs or pots of plants are grown, carried or sold.
• “Self-cleaning” isn’t limited to ovens. The term means a flowering plant that sheds old blossoms neatly without requiring hand removal.
• “Deadheading” is the removal of withered flowers to prevent energy from being wasted on seed formation. Deadheading encourages continued flowering on many plant types.
• “Spent blossoms” are flowers that have withered and should be removed by deadheading.
• “Cross” doesn’t mean you’re irritable. It means pollen is transferred from male flower parts to female flower parts.
• If seeds “come true,” the plant produces seeds that will grow into offspring with the same characteristics as the parent. Many hybrids don’t produce seeds that come true.
• An “eye” is the bud on the surface of a tuber or enlarged root. Potatoes and peonies both have eyes.
• “Hardy” is often short for “winter hardy,” meaning a plant can reliably survive the local winter conditions year after year.
• “Leggy” refers to tall and spindly growth. Seedlings can become leggy if light is insufficient. Shrubs can become leggy if they need rejuvenation.
• The “crown” of a plant is the point at which above-ground stems meet the below ground roots. The crown is usually at soil level.
• Planting in a “hill” means planting garden seeds in a small group, not on a raised mound. Squash, pumpkin, cucumber and melons are often planted with four or five seeds to a “hill.”