the activity of tending and cultivating a garden
From garden, from Old French gardin
Gardening is guarding your plants while they grow!
Gardening was historically coded as 'feminine domesticity' in Victorian-era advice literature, though men dominated commercial horticulture and botanical science. This gendered division persists in casual speech ('gardening' as hobby vs. 'horticulture' as profession).
Use 'gardening' neutrally for all practitioners; acknowledge that landscaping, botany, and food cultivation are professional fields open to all genders.
Women horticulturists like Liberty Hyde Bailey and the largely-female cottage garden movement contributed significantly to modern gardening practice, often uncredited in canonical histories.
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