Not everyone is a lawn and garden expert, and that’s okay! That’s why you hire them so that you don’t have to brush up on skills that don’t interest you! However, if you have decided to take a more “hands-on” approach to your lawn and garden, then it’s helpful if you’re up with the lingo. Otherwise, when it comes time to sink or swim, you’re more likely to sink.

Before you become bogged down in endless terms and definitions that bear no relevance, let us walk you through the more common ones. These may appear in everyday garden and lawn maintenance and can be the lifeline you need to tackle that backyard wilderness with ease.

Common Plant Growth Terms

When you start reading the tags on any plants you buy, you start wondering whether you should have a botany and plant science degree. After all, some of the most common plant terms are hard enough to say, let alone understand. Fortunately, when you hire someone for garden maintenance and lawn mowing, you don’t have to worry about a thing. But wouldn’t it be helpful if you knew the basics?

• Annual – a plant that undertakes a full life cycle in a whole year

• Biennial – a plant that undertakes a full life cycle in two years

• Bolting – when sun and heat causes plants to produce seeds and flowers prematurely

• Companion Planting – mutual benefits gained from planting two plant types close together

• Everblooming – a plant that blooms continuously throughout its full growth season

• Germinate – a seed’s growth from a seed to sprout

• Perennial – plants that live throughout multiple seasons of growth

• Seedling – a seed that has grown its first root, stem, and leaves 

Common Plant Maintenance Terms

Understanding common plant maintenance terms can be more helpful than you might think. While you can rely on experts to take care of hedge trimming, gardening, lawn mowing, and more, you can also understand what is being done to keep your property in tip-top shape. 

• Bareroot – when a gardener removes dormant plants from the ground, removes the soil, and preserves them

• Cutting – a method of plant propagation to grow a new plant from a previously grown plant

• Deadheading – cutting off or removing old flower heads

• Direct Sowing – rather than growing plants inside before transplanting them to your garden, direct sowing is planting them directly where you want them to stay

• Hybrid – crossing two plants to create a new variety

• Pinching Off – removing leaves to promote new growth

• Pollinating – taking pollen from the male part of the flower (stamen) and putting it into the female part of the flower (pistil) to form a seed

• Self-Pollinating – a plant that produces fruit without pollen from another plant

• Open Pollination – natural pollination through insects, wind, and non-human action

• Pruning – cutting leaves or branches to get rid of dead, damaged, or diseased growth

• Staking – supporting a plant’s growth by driving a stake into the ground next to it

• Thinning – removing excess seedlings for better foliage, light, and air circulation for those that remain

• Transplanting – Taking plants from one place and replanting them in another 

Common Soil and Fertilisation Terms

The act of fertilising can be quite complicated, which is why thousands of New Zealanders leave such tasks in the capable hands of local lawn care experts. While you could neglect fertiliser, there are disadvantages of doing so.  A fertilised lawn and garden benefits from premium growth, health, and colour, not to mention robustness when faced with the genuine risk of pests, weeds, and disease.

• Acidic Soil – soil with a pH lower than 7

• Alkaline Soil – also known as basic soil, it has a pH of higher than 7

• Compost – decaying, organic materials for mulching, fertilising, and soil amending

• Herbicide – a type of chemical that kills or stunts plants

• Humus – decomposed plant material that forms part of the soil

• Loam – the best soil for agriculture and gardening that is made up of one-quarter clay, half silt, and less than half sand

• Organic – a type of plant food, pesticide, or fertiliser that’s from plants or animals, not synthetic chemicals

• Pesticide – an organic or synthetic chemical to kill weeds, microbes, and pests

• Side Dressing – the fertilisation process of adding fertiliser into soil near a mature plant

• Sludge – an industrial wastewater treatment plant leftover sediment commonly used for fertiliser due to its high nutrient levels

• Waterlogged – water-saturated soil

Very Nearly an Expert…

You’re now familiar with a huge range of common lawn and garden terms in NZ. As they say, knowledge is power. What are you going to do with this newfound information? Are you going to tackle your gardens and lawns yourself? Or, are you going to have more confidence to call in the experts who can keep your properties in tip-top shape?