Difference Between Gardening and Landscaping

December 2022 · 5 minute read

Greenery is liked by everyone. Eye-soothing gardens are enough to make you smile. But when the question of appearance and design comes in, we get two words, gardening and landscaping. While gardening is the simple process of cultivating, landscaping is a much broader term and is more concerned with the beautification of the garden. 

Gardening vs Landscaping

The main difference between gardening and landscaping is that gardening is a process that can be done by anyone without a proper design in mind, whereas landscaping can not be done by common people, it is a professional’s job, who can do it with a lot of ideas and designs in mind.

Gardening is a simple activity that many people undertake for pleasure. It gets treated as a hobby and can be done easily without a huge land space or fancy instruments. Gardening can include flowers, fruits and vegetable trees according to the availability of the space.

Landscaping is not a simple thing. It requires a wide knowledge in the area of cultivation and horticulture. Not anyone can plan this. It requires professional help. To do landscaping, one also needs a huge space to fit in all the preferences.

Comparison Table Between Gardening and Landscaping

Parameters of ComparisonGardeningLandscaping
DefinitionGardening is an activity that includes cultivating and growing a garden.Landscaping is an activity to beautify a garden with more ornamental entities.
Done byAnyone can do gardening.Generally, professionals are hired for landscaping.
Design It does not have a fixed design. It is grown according to the gardener’s wish.It is a more planned and designed way of gardening.
Types of plants It mainly involves growing plants of flowers, fruits and simple vegetables.It mainly includes plants, trees and even shrubs and many other decorative items.
Structure The structure of the garden depends on the shape of the land.In landscaping, the structure and the terrain of the garden get changed.

What is Gardening?

Gardening is the activity or process that many people undertake to cultivate several plants. In gardening, one can grow different types of plants such as flowers, fruits and trees. Sometimes they are beautified with some decorative plants. This adds an overall aesthetic charm to the garden. 

Gardening does not require much space. People can even do this on their balconies. One can also do gardening in yards, terraces, rooftops or pots. It is not necessary to do gardening only in a traditional garden space. Indoor gardening is a phenomenon as well. Many people keep plants inside the house and take care of those.

Gardening is a relaxing process that is also considered to be a hobby. Many people pursue this activity in their free time to have a stress free, calm attitude. Even research shows that gardening has several positive effects on our mental health. This recreational activity also has a beneficial effect on physical health.

What is Landscaping?

Landscaping is a process that makes a garden or any other land a more beautiful and charming place. This process includes changing the former structure and designs. A new layout gets made, and then in the garden, the plan gets executed. 

Besides trees and plants, many other elements get used to increase the attraction of these places. Things that are generally not a part of a traditional garden find their place in the landscaping. For this purpose, the changes in the structure take place.

To carry out changes, several processes such as backfilling, mounding, terracing, and grading are undertaken. In most cases, all the planning is done by professional people, who can effectively change the view while not compromising with the aesthetic understanding. Besides additions, many eliminations take place as well. Unnecessary walls, fences or decks can get removed during the process.

Landscaping is done by professionals while keeping the owner’s requirements and choices in mind. Some might ask for a sustainable landscape, while others may want flamboyant designs to go with their taste. Any sort of design can be embodied through landscaping.

However, it is no way that landscaping can happen without the right technology and methods. Proper landscaping includes science as well as arts. This is why a landscaping professional is required for the job, which has a well-informed team on the topics like basic rules of landscaping, horticultural, greenhouse and other related cases.

Main Differences Between Gardening and Landscaping

  • Gardening is an activity that includes cultivating and growing different plants. On the other hand, landscaping is an activity of beautifying a garden with more ornamental entities.
  • Anyone with a knack for growing plants can start gardening, but landscaping is done only by professionals as that needs proper planning and implementation.
  • Gardening does not need to have any set design or size. It can be designed as the choice of the gardeners, while landscaping requires proper planning and changes. Many ornamental features get included here.
  • Gardening mainly involves growing plants of flowers, fruits and simple vegetables, but landscaping includes plants, trees and even shrubs and other decorative elements. 
  • The structure of the garden depends on the shape of the land, whereas, in landscaping, things get changed and modified.
  • Conclusion

    Gardening and landscaping are not contradictory to each other. However, they are not the same thing as well. Gardening is an activity that does not require a proper garden per se. Any amount of space is suitable for gardening. But landscaping is not an easy-going process. Not anyone can do this anywhere. Landscaping is done to make a garden look even more beautiful and aesthetic.

    Gardening is only about plants, but landscaping includes other decorative components as well. It is not only planting and growing trees. If you have a small space and want to take advantage of it to do some gardening, then you can easily start doing it. However, you can only do landscaping if you have a huge space and a lot of resources to support the structure.

    References

  • https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11252-014-0379-7
  • https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1360138508000253
  • ncG1vNJzZmiZo6Cur8XDop2fnaKau6SxjZympmeUnrOnsdGepZydXZeytcPEnqVmn5Gnsaa6yKeeZpmemXqtrc2dqpyZoJ67qHs%3D