**1. Historical Development of Gardening:**
– Plant domestication as the birth of agriculture
– Transition from hunting to modifying environments
– Indigenous gardening practices in the Americas
– Forest gardening in ancient times
– Gardens in ancient civilizations like Egypt, Babylon, and Rome
– Gardening in the Middle Ages and the emergence of cottage gardens
– Evolution of garden design styles over the centuries
**2. Differentiation and Types of Gardening:**
– Differentiation from farming in terms of objectives and scale
– Types of gardening like residential, non-residential, indoor, native plant, and water gardening
– Elements of garden design and considerations like climate and plant selection
– Sustainable gardening practices and principles
– Specific gardening techniques like Hugelkultur, community gardening, garden sharing, organic gardening, and commercial gardening
**3. Indigenous Gardening Practices:**
– Indigenous societies in the Americas using plants for food and medicine
– Aesthetic Indigenous gardens in the Americas
– Popular crops originating from pre-colonial Indigenous societies
– Influence of Indigenous gardening techniques on modern practices
**4. Garden Design and Styles:**
– Formal, informal, and naturalistic garden design styles
– Elements like paths, hedges, and water features in garden design
– Cultural and historical influences on garden design principles
– Ancient Indian gardens incorporating sacred geometry
– Sustainable gardening practices in design
**5. Community and Commercial Gardening:**
– Community gardening as a social activity providing fresh produce
– Garden sharing promoting sustainable land use and community connections
– Organic gardening using natural and sustainable methods
– Commercial gardening involving intensive fruit and vegetable production
– Utilization of Mediterranean agriculture practices in commercial gardening
Gardening is the process of growing plants for their vegetables, fruits, flowers, herbs, and appearances within a designated space. Gardens fulfill a wide assortment of purposes, notably the production of aesthetically pleasing areas, medicines, cosmetics, dyes, foods, poisons, wildlife habitats, and saleable goods (see market gardening). People often partake in gardening for its therapeutic, health, educational, cultural, philosophical, environmental, and religious benefits.
Gardening varies in scale from the 800 hectare Versailles gardens down to container gardens grown inside. Gardens take many forms, some only contain one type of plant while others involve a complex assortment of plants with no particular order.
Gardening can be difficult to differentiate from farming. They are most easily differentiated based on their primary objectives. Farming prioritizes saleable goods and may include livestock production whereas gardening often prioritizes aesthetics and leisure. As it pertains to food production, gardening generally happens on a much smaller scale with the intent of personal or community consumption. It is important to note that there are cultures which do not differentiate between farming and gardening. This is primarily because subsistence agriculture has been the main method of farming throughout its 12,000 year history and is virtually indistinguishable from gardening.