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Gardening is an activity—the art and craft of growing plants—most often taking place in or about one's residence, in a space referred to as the garden. A garden that is in close proximity to one's residence is also known as a residential garden. Although a garden typically is located on the land within, surrounding, or adjacent to a residence, it may also be located in less traditional locations such as on a roof, in an atrium, on a balcony, in a windowbox, or on a patio.

Gardening also takes place in non-residential green areas, such as parks, public or semi-public gardens ( botanical gardens or zoological gardens), amusement and theme parks, along transportation corridors, and around tourist attractionsTourism can be defined as the act of travel for the purpose of recreation, and the provision of services for this act. A tourist is someone who travels at least fifty miles from home, as defined by the World Tourism Organization (a United Nations body). and hotels. In these situations, gardens are maintained by a staff of gardeners or grounds-keepers.

Indoor gardening is concerned with the growing of essentially houseplantA houseplant is a plant that one grows in a dwelling, such as a house or office. Houseplants may be herbs, but are usually decorative. List of Common Houseplants Tropical houseplants Arbicola Asparagus Fern Asparagus densiflora Bromeliads Chinese Evergrees within a residence or building, in a conservatoryA conservatory is a large glass and metal stucture traditionally found in the gardens of large houses. Modern versions are smaller, can be made of PVC and are often added to houses for home improvement purposes. Conservatories can be both greenhouses and, or in a greenhouseSaint Paul, Minnesota. A greenhouse (or glasshouse is a building where plants are cultivated. A greenhouse is built of glass or plastic; it heats up because the sun's incoming electromagnetic radiation (particularly infrared light) warms plants, soil, and. Plants grown in a conservatory or greenhouse may or may not require more exacting care and conditions than ordinary houseplants. Indoor gardens are sometimes incorporated as part of air conditioningNote: in the broadest sense, "air conditioning" can refer to any form of " heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning. This article is specifically about the use of refrigeration for this purpose. The first album of the pop group Curved Air was Airconditi or heating systems.

water gardening is concerned with growing plants adapted to pools and ponds. Bog gardens are also considered a type of water garden. These all require special conditions and considerations. A simple water garden may consist solely of a tub containing the water and plant(s).

1 Gardening vs. farming

In respect to its food producing purpose, gardening is distinguished from farming chiefly by scale and intent. Farming occurs on a larger scale, and with the production of saleable goods as a major motivation. Gardening is done on a smaller scale, primarily for pleasure and to produce goods for the gardener's own family or community. There is some overlap between the terms, particularly in that some moderate sized vegetable growing concerns can fit in either category.

The key distinction between fruit and vegetable gardening and farming is essentially one of scale: gardening can be a hobby or an income supplement, but farming is generally understood as a full-time or commercial activity, usually involving more land and quite different practices. One distinction is that gardening is labor-intensive and employs very little infrastructural capital, typically no more than a few tools, e.g. a spade, hoe, basket and watering can. By contrast, larger-scale farming often involves irrigation systems, chemical fertilizers and harvesters or at least ladders, e.g. to reach up into fruit trees. However, this distinction is becoming blurred with the increasing use of power tools in even small gardens.

In part because of labor intensity and aesthetic motivations, gardening is very often much more productive per unit of land than farming. In the Soviet Union, half the food supply came from small peasants' garden plots on the huge government-run collective farms, although they were tiny patches of land. Some argue this as evidence of superiority of capitalism, since the peasants were generally able to sell their produce. Others consider it to be evidence of a tragedy of the commons, since the large collective plots were often neglected, or fertilizers or water redirected to the private gardens.

The term precision agriculture is sometimes used to describe such economically viable forms of gardening using intermediate technology (more than tools, less than harvesters), especially of organic varieties. Gardening is effectively scaled up to feed entire villages of over 100 people from specialized plots. A variant is the community garden which offers plots to urban dwellers; see further in allotment (gardening).