Recently, I realized that I really need to acquire some basic gardening knowledge to create my ideal garden. After some research I realized that learning horticulture is the way to go.
Here, I have invited a fantastic certified Master Gardener to work on this “Free Horticulture Class” project with me. There will be 11 topics in total. After you have completed reading them all, you will be well informed and have confidence to work on your garden.
Let’s look into the horticulture world and enjoy gardening!
Introduction
Horticulture is an intimidating word to many would-be gardeners. Well, we will breakdown the word and provide a basic introduction to horticulture to dispel intimidation.
The word ‘horticulture’ is derived from the Latin words ‘hortus’ which means garden, and ‘colere‘ which means to cultivate. It’s one of the branches of plant agriculture and it encompasses all types of plant management.
Horticulture is most often used to describe anything that involves garden crops, like vegetables and fruits. However, it can be used as a blanket term for any of the 8 branches of plant management.
A horticulturist is an expert in garden cultivation and management of all 8 branches:
Arboriculture: The study, cultivation, and management of trees, shrubs, vines, and other perennial woody plants.
Floriculture: Involves the production and marketing of floral crops.
Landscape horticulture: Is the production, marketing, and maintenance of landscape plants.
Olericulture: Includes the production and marketing of vegetables.
Oenology: Covers all aspects of wine and winemaking.
Pomology: Production and marketing of fruits.
Postharvest: Involves quality maintenance and preventing the spoilage of horticultural crops.
Viticulture: Is the production and marketing of grapes.
A backyard gardener practices the art of horticulture. A professional horticulturalist oversees the cultivation and management of a multi-million dollar field agriculture operation that produces fresh produce for the supermarkets.
Propagation Methods
One of the most basic practices of horticulture is to keep plant species alive and reproducing. That is done through propagation.
Propagation is simply the breeding of plants. They will produce more plants that are as good, or better, than the parent plant. Planting seeds is the most well-known method of plant propagation but not the only method.
Seeds
When propagating plants through seeds, start with good quality seeds. These can be obtained through a reputable garden supply dealer. Or you can save seeds from high-quality plants grown in your backyard garden.
Note that hybrid plants will not reproduce true to the parent plants and may not reproduce at all. Hybrids are created through careful pollination of two specific plant varieties. It’s a highly selective plant breeding method that brings together two traits in each of the selected plant varieties. With this method, the resulting hybrid seed contains both of the desired traits.
Don’t save seeds from hybrid plants. You never know what they may grow up to be.
For best reproduction results from seeds, save seeds that are harvested from heirloom, non-GMO plants.
Cuttings
This is a simple propagation method that will produce a plant clone. Cutting creates a new plant that will be exactly like the parent plant. It’s often used for garden plants and houseplants.
A plant leaf, stem, or roots is cut from the desired parent plant and placed in moist growing medium (potting soil). Some gardeners dip the cut portion in rooting hormone before inserting it into the moist growing medium. This is done to help increase the odds of a new plant developing from the cutting.
When the cutting develops its own root system it is then planted in a permanent location.
Layering
This propagation method prompts a plant to generate a new root system on a branch that is still attached to the parent plant.
Shrubs that have naturally drooping branches, like forsythia, butterfly bush, and blackberries, is the ideal method of breeding new plants.
Soil layering is done by burying a portion of a low, drooping branch in the soil. It allows it to form a new root system before it’s severed from the parent plant.
Air layering is done by creating a deep slit in any shrub branch and covering the wound with a ball of earth or moss. The earth or moss is loosely wrapped with plastic wrap, burlap or cotton fabric. It’s kept moist until roots develop from the slit. When the root system has developed the branch is then severed and transplanted.
Grafting
This propagation method is typically used for fruit trees, ornamental flowering trees, and other woody shrubs like roses.
Grafting involves taking a health branch, bud, or scion of one plant and placing it into a slit created in another plant. The wound is wrapped to hold the two pieces together until they grow together as one.
The host plant provides the moisture and nutrients needed by the cut branch. It keeps the branch alive until new tissue forms and the two separate pieces co-join and become one new plant.
Natural Propagation
Many plants reproduce without any human assistance via underground rhizomes, tubers, or self-seeding.
These types of plants have both a good side and a bad side. On the good side, self-seeding plants will quickly fill in an empty landscape location. In addition, they make maintaining a cottage garden easy.
On the bad side, these types of plants can become invasive if left unchecked. Dividing tubers and thinning out self-seeders every 3-years will keep the plants healthy and prevent them from overtaking a landscape.
Echinacea, bee balm, lupine, primrose, asters, and columbine are hardy self-seeding flowers. Many vegetable plants will also self-seed and return the next growing season as ‘volunteer’ plants. Tomatoes, cucumbers, pumpkins, and squash will self-seed if some of the vegetables are allowed to decompose in the garden.
Plants that spread via underground tubers or rhizomes can spread rapidly or slowly, depending on the variety. Monkey grass and peonies spread slowly via underground tubers and rarely need to be thinned out. Lily-of-the-Valley and bugleweed spread rapidly via underground rhizomes and can be hard to tame.
Meet Your Horticulture Needs
Now that you know you practice horticulture each time you cultivate or manage a plant, experiment with these propagation methods and develop some new plants to share with friends!
To be continued in Part 2 of 11..
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