Gardening

What a lovely day to weed and work the soil. The sweet smell of earth excites the very fibers of your being like no other activity can. Perhaps because you are now involving yourself with one of the most essential and ancient activities on earth, your spirit is lifted and a small inkling of what life is truly about settles on the edge of your senses. Gardening ranges in scale from fruit orchards, to long boulevard plantings with one or more different types of shrubs, trees and herbaceous plants, to residential yards including lawns and foundation plantings, to large or small containers grown inside or outside. Gardening may be very specialized, with only one type of plant grown, or involve a large number of different plants in mixed plantings. It involves an active participation in the growing of plants, and tends to be labor intensive, which differentiates it from farming or forestry. Gardening for food extends far back into prehistory. Ornamental gardens were known in ancient times, a famous example being the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, while ancient Rome had dozens of gardens. Ornamental gardens existed since ancient Egypt, when rich people used them as a means to relax in the shade of the trees. Egyptians associated trees and gardens with gods as they believed that gods liked gardens. Commonly, the gardens in ancient Egypt were surrounded by walls with trees planted in rows. The ancient Roman gardens are known by their statues and sculptures, never missing from the lives of Romans. These gardens were laid out with hedges and vines and they contained a wide variety of flowers. This sound uses the following file from Freesound: http://www.freesound.org/samplesViewSingle.php?id=118679