Top 9 Fundamental Gardening Terms for Spring

RoboUP - 2024/02/05

Spring 2024 is approaching, and if you are new to gardening, RoboUP has you covered! Explore these 9 essential gardening terms with us, ensuring you're well-equipped for the upcoming Spring and beyond.

Gardening Fundamentals 1: Annual, Biennial, Perennial Plants

It's important to understand the growth and life cycles of plants to add to your Spring knowledge.

Annual plants complete their growth cycle in a single year, from germination to withering, without regenerating.

Biennial plants, on the other hand, have a two-year growth cycle, blooming only in the second year, after a year of leaf growth.

Perennial plants live for two or more years, capable of repeating the cycle of germination, flowering, fruiting, and withering.

Gardening Fundamentals 2: Self-Sowing Plants

These plants scatter their seeds, allowing them to naturally sow and grow without external assistance. If you don't want to have to plant a new batch of seeds in your garden every year, choosing self-sowing plants is your best option, such as violets, sunflowers, marigolds and more.

Gardening Fundamentals 3: Acidic Soil and Alkaline Soil

Soil pH, measured using tools readily available at gardening stores, dictates mineral availability for plant growth. The pH of the soil determines the amount of soil minerals, it is a measure of the acidity or alkalinity of soil. It's crucial to know your garden's soil pH to select appropriate plants and ensure their well-being. Acidic soil has a pH value below 7.0, alkaline soil has a pH value above 7.0, and neutral soil has a pH value around 7.0.

Gardening Fundamentals 4: Cutting Propagation

If you admire a plant elsewhere, you can propagate it in your garden through cuttings. Simply trim a section of the plant to a length of 7cm to 15cm, remove its leaves, dip the cut end in rooting powder, and place it in a container covered with a cloth or gauze. After a month or two, roots will develop, and you can transplant it into your garden.

Gardening Fundamentals 5: Pick Flower Heads

Though it might sound harsh, this is a gentle practice that involves removing spent flowers before the seeds appear. By doing so, the plant can grow new flower buds, which encourages the growth of new flowers, which will bloom more and more prosperously.

Gardening Fundamentals 6: Transplanting

If you want to grow new plants from seeds, you need to know how to transplant them. That's when the second little leaf starts to appear on the seedling, where you can gently lower it into the soil and leave a little more space around it for later growth. If you don't do this, the roots will get tangled together and won't grow properly. It's best to give each plant its own pot and reserve a separate growing space.

Gardening Fundamental 7: Plant Support Frame

For tall or vine-like plants and vegetables in your garden, providing support is essential for healthy growth. Consider using trellises, wire mesh, bamboo stakes, or other structures to help your plants thrive and blend seamlessly into their surroundings.

Gardening Fundamentals 8: Intensification Period

A major pruning of the plants is done at the end of May and beginning of June. Prune the plant back to one-third of its usual size in the summer, and it will bloom better and more beautifully later.

Gardening Fundamentals 9: Harden Off Seedlings, Pinch Buds

When transitioning plants from indoor to outdoor environments, sudden changes in conditions can stress them. This period, known as hardening off, requires gradually exposing seedlings to outdoor conditions over time to ensure successful adaptation before transplanting them fully outdoors.

Article reference source: https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/145260182

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