Prästgårdsträdgårdar
barndomsskildringar från 14 prästgårdsträdgårdar i Växjö stift
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.