Gardening is defined as the ability and skill of growing plants in order to be able to create a beautiful environment. It usually takes place in one’s place of residence in a space popularly called as a garden. While a typical garden is located on the land within, around or near the residence, other locations like the roof, atrium, balcony, in a window box or on a patio have also been traditionally used.

Non-residential areas which are green like parks, botanical or zoological gardens, amusement and theme parks along corridors for transportation and around tourist destinations and hotels. In these cases, a staff of gardeners are tasked to maintain the garden.

Growing houseplants within a residence, building or greenhouse is the concern of indoor gardening. These plants do not require exact care and conditions compared to ordinary houseplants. They are incorporated with the air conditioning or heating systems.

Water gardening is concerned with growing plants adjusted to swimming pools and fish ponds. Special conditions and considerations are required. A simple water garden is made up of a tub filled with water and plant(s).

Gardening compared to farming

The main difference between gardening and farming is basically that of scale: gardening is regarded as a hobby or as additional income, but farming in general is a full-time or commercial activity which involves more land and quite different practices. Another difference is that gardening requires a lot of labor and minimal tools for building. On the other hand, larger-scale farming often involves systems of irrigation , fertilizers for chemicals and harvesters or at least ladders for picking fruit trees.

Because it is labor intensive and motivated by aesthetics, gardening is very much more fruitful than farming. In the Soviet Union, fifty percent of the sdupply of food resulted from garden plots of small peasants on the enormous collective farms operated by the government. This is being disputed as a proof that capitalism is superior since the peasants’ production were sold.
Because of the large collective plots neglected as well as the redirection of fertilizers or waters to private gardens, others regard this as a tragedy of the commons.

Precision agriculture is used to illustrate practical forms of gardening utilizing intermediate technology especially of organic varieties. Gardening has been effectively increased in order to feed entire villages of more than one hundred people from specialized plots. A community garden providing plots to urban dwellers is a variant of gardening.