Gardening/Growing

Gardening—the cultivation of flowers, fruits, and vegetables on enclosed pieces of ground—has a long and varied history. It ranges from being a practical activity that supplies people and households with fruits, vegetables, and herbs, to being a multifaceted and elaborate leisure pursuit characterized by ornamental and ostentatious landscape design techniques. Gardening also varies from being a personal and individual experience to being a social and community activity, although the boundaries are becoming blurred. In recent years, gardening has come to play a major role in environmental and sustainability issues.

Gardening is one of the most popular pastime activities in the United States and Europe. In 2007, according to research conducted by the National Gardening Association, a nonprofit organization that promotes gardening education, an estimated 82 million ...