Is Gardening Considered As Agriculture?

Has it ever crossed your mind about the difference between gardening and agriculture? Or do you randomly ask yourself if gardening can be considered as agriculture? You may think that gardening is just the same as farming because you plant and develop crops. However, you may also think that gardening is not considered as agriculture because it does not require larger areas. 

There have been debates spurred when it comes to relating gardening to agriculture. Yes, both practices involve planting and harvesting, but there are still some points to consider. To help you, this article will discuss some points about, “Is gardening considered as agriculture?” You will understand why gardening is considered agriculture for some people and not for others.

What is Gardening?

As part of Horticulture, gardening is the cultivation and growing of plants. In gardens, ornamental plants developed for their overall appearance. The same is true for the flowers and foliage. For many, gardening is considered to be a relaxing hobby. That’s why most gardeners grow plants, vegetables, root crops, fruits, and herbs in their backyard garden. They are cultivated and grown for many purposes, from consumption, cosmetic use, medicinal use, and dye.

Gardening does not only grow flowers, but it also has a wide range, from fruity orchards to boulevard plantings. There are tons of types when you consider gardening such as: 

• growing shrubs
  
• trees 
  
• herbaceous plants 
  
• for medicinal and cosmetic use

Gardening is a very specialized practice. You may grow one plant or multiple varieties. It includes vigorous contribution in plants and tends to be labor-intensive. And, you can only do planting even in small areas or limited spaces. This is the first reason why it differs from agriculture or farming.

What is Agriculture?

Agriculture is the discipline of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture paved the way for sedentary human civilization, and this means that the farming of domesticated animals generated food surplus that enabled humans to live in cities. In other words, agriculture requires an extensive approach because it involves the distribution of foods for the living. 

Moreover, agriculture is the skill of cultivating food crops and nurturing animals for farming. It involves the whole web of developments engaged in the redistribution of the normal approach of the food chain and energy. This normal web starts from the Sun that provides all the necessary needs for plants to grow, which is then converted to sugars that are administered to plant foods in a process called Photosynthesis.

Horticulture: How It is Related to Gardening or Agriculture?

As written above, gardening is part of horticulture, and horticulture is part of agriculture.

In this part, we’ll discuss horticulture's involvement in gardening and agriculture, for you to fully understand if, is gardening considered as agriculture.

What is Horticulture?

Horticulture is a practice that has been defined as the agriculture of plants, primarily for food, comfort, cosmetics, and materials. Horticulture is the growing of plants, flowers, fruits, and vegetables, and ornamental plants for fancy.

In other words, it is the cultivation, sale of fruits, vegetables, nuts, and ornamental plants as well as many supplementary services. Horticulture also includes landscape restoration, plant conservation, soil management, landscape, and garden designing. 

What Does Horticulture Do to Gardening?

The field of Horticulture includes plant cultivation, propagation of plants, breeding of plants, crop creation, plant composition as well as biochemistry and genetic engineering. This now goes to gardening. Although horticulture is classified as a part of agriculture, which deals with the gardening of plants, it is dissimilar from agriculture. 

It is often easy to associate those two because some of the techniques used in both practices are the same and are used interchangeably. For example, the growth of crops falls under the agricultural process. However, many horticultural approaches are used. This somehow answers the concern if "Is gardening considered as agriculture?”

The plant wherein horticulturists specialize in is shrubs, vegetables, turf, shrubs, fruits, and nuts. Horticulturists carry out extensive research to further the mastery of their respective fields to get better results. This includes improving nutritional values of vegetables and fruits, resistance to diseases and pests, high-quality crop yields, and how to adjust from different factors contributed by environmental stresses.

What Separates Horticulture to Agriculture?

The most distinguished difference between Horticulture and Agriculture is that horticulture deals with small scale gardening and is usually done in the backyard, garden, and all sorts, while agriculture is done on a massive scale, and with widespread crop production and livestock.

One thing that separates horticulture from agriculture: horticulture does not include animal farming or large-scale crop making. However, horticulture is part of agriculture. It is defined as a strict method of science that employs different kinds of approaches when cultivating plants. This includes properly conditioning the soil before sowing and planting tubers. 

The other part is the Sustainable Agriculture, this where the ecological principles are used in farming practices. Sustainable Agriculture involves the planting of various crops together for human consumption and farming gardens not to be bare at any given time.

Summary of the difference between Horticulture and Agriculture

• Horticulture strictly employs strict plant cultivation principles, while Agriculture deals with crop cultivation and animal husbandry.
• Horticulture may include plants that aren’t for human consumption, while Agriculture mainly focuses on plants that are for human consumption.
• Horticulture is done for small scales and enclosed plots, while Agriculture is done on massive levels and extensive pieces of land.

Is Gardening Considered Agriculture?

Yes! As stated above, gardening is the cultivation and growing of plants as part of horticulture. And Horticulture is part of agriculture that only deals with small-scales as compared to agriculture, which deals with the overall human consumptions associated with crop production, livestock, and animal husbandry.

In simpler terms, gardening is considered agriculture because gardening is part of horticulture, and horticulture is part of agriculture.

Conclusion

​No matter what your view is regarding this matter, one thing is for sure. They are all part of the reason why humans live. They provide crops, plants, fruits, and vegetable production for human consumption. Also, they are all vital parts of our lives, for stability and well-being.

 It is part of this complex world we live in. Overall, gardening gives us the freedom to be cultivated and grow crops in our backyard. Horticulture helps us to improve the overall outcome of our production by using some specialized techniques. Lastly, agriculture was made to provide human consumption in our daily lives.

Hopefully, this article answered your question about, “Is gardening considered as agriculture?” There may be some things that differ, but in the end, you can fully understand that gardening is truly a part of agriculture.