BASIC GARDENING VOCABULARY

Here's a list of VERY BASIC gardening vocabulary words. Take a look at them. Do you have any corrections? Or additions of words you feel should be included in a BASIC list? This list is from "A" to "F". I'll complete the list over the next few posts.

Gardening Vocabulary

This is the most basic vocabulary you'll ever need. If you want something that isn't here, you'll have to get it from a standard dictionary or gardening book.

• aeration-supplying the soil with air in one way or another.
• alpine- a plant native to alpine regions
• annuals- a plant that completes it's life cycle in one growing season
• biennials- continuing or lasting for two years; or growing leaves and roots during the first year, then fruiting and dying during the second
• brambles- usually prickly shrubs including the raspberries and blackberries
• bulbs- a plant developing from a bulb
• compost- a mixture that consists largely of decayed organic matter and is used for fertilizing and conditioning land
• corms- A short thick solid food-storing underground stem, sometimes bearing papery scale leaves, as gladiolus
• cultivate- To loosen or dig soil around growing plants
• dead-heading- Removing old flowers during the growing season to encourage the development of new flowers and to prevent seed formation. Deadheading also improves the appearance of the garden. On the down side, removing seed heads may also mean depriving seed-eating birds of a favorite food—and depriving the gardener of the company of the birds.
• division- A type of propagation characteristic of plants that spread by means of newly formed parts such as bulbs, suckers, or rhizomes.
• evergreens- having foliage that remains green and functional through the winter. It does NOT die back.
• fertilizer- a substance (either organic or chemical) used to make soil more fertile
• forcing- to bring plants to maturity out of the normal season, as in forcing lilies for Easter
• frost- the temperature that causes freezing, and hence the death of tender plants.
• fungus- plants that lack chlorophyll and include molds, rusts, mildews, smuts, mushrooms, and yeast