Prästgårdsträdgårdar : barndomsskildringar från 14 prästgårdsträdgårdar i Växjö stift

Abstract: Few rectory gardens are today remaining in their former design and the cultural heritage that they represent are disappearing. Since 1987-88 the parishes are no longer bound to keep housing for their priests, which means that they, for economical reasons, are starting to sell their rectories. With this in mind, a group of people, growing up in rectories in Småland and Öland between the 1930th and 1950th, formed an interest group to save the memory of their rectory gardens. On the basis of their memories, they have written a couple of descriptions of the rectories, which describe the gardens content, design and the life they once lived there. With this compilation of the 14 rectory gardens I want to keep the memory of them and create a ground for future work in this field. Historically the rectory gardens played an important roll as patterns and examples in the countryside. The priests used ideas from the gardens of the nobelmen and recreated this in something more suitable for the people. The rectories were often situated close to the church, where the soil had been cultivated for hundreds of years. This meant that there was a deep layer of topsoil, and if the priest and his wife were interested and competent they could create beautiful gardens. In gardening, as well as in agriculture, the priests were pioneers. Their contribution to the history of swedish gardening has been very important. After the reformation the rectories came to play an important part in the cultural life in the sparsely populated countryside of Småland. In Öland, where the farms and manors were rare, the rectories came to be of even more importance, especially when gardens around the houses were rare. At the rectories you could pay to build a wall high enough to keep the animals out of the delicacies of the garden. The kitchen garden was for a long time an important part in the rectory garden, as it was significant to support the family's economy. In the middle of the 20th century the kitchen gardens were big and full of different vegetables and crops, especially if you lived on the countryside. You could not buy fresh vegetables and fruits in the grocery store, so the harvest had to last all year round. Except for the kitchen garden there was also a smaller ornament garden at the rectories around the 1950th. The kitchen garden supported the economy and the ornamental garden was to represent the abode of the priest. The garden was both for work and for pleasure. A rectory without a green growing and delightful garden did not exist, even though some gardens were more wellmanaged than others. During the second part of the 20th century the kitchen gardens lost importance in the rectory gardens, since there were no longer any need for growing vegetables and fruits for economical reasons. When artificial fertilizers and pesticides made their entrance at the big farms around the turn of the century, they soon replaced the biological cultivation methods. At the same time people lost their interest in horticulture. The garden should now be a place for resting and the vegetables were replaced by easy cared shrubs and trees. The design of the rectory gardens today often depends on the simplification that has been done, because there has not been any extensive replanting. One has kept the old frame of the gardens, but the content has been impoverished.