The changing face of farmers’ home gardens: a diachronic analysis from Sillian (Eastern Tyrol, Austria)

Abstract

BackgroundHome gardens are an integral part of many traditional land use systems around the world. They are subject to various conversion processes and undergo a variety of changes. We were interested if change is an ongoing process in farmers’ home gardens of Eastern Tyrol (Austria).MethodsIn Sillian, 16 farmers’ home gardens (FHGs) were studied. They had been studied in 1998 and were revisited in 2013 including again a botanical inventory of cultivated and non-cultivated plants, and structured interviews on appearance, management and plant use. In 2017, all the 16 gardens were visited again to verify whether any visible change on spatial configuration had occurred.ResultsThe home garden size had decreased between 1998 and 2013. A wider range of sizes was observed. The occurrence of plant taxa per garden was the same but an increase in the standard deviation of occurrence is seen. Plant diversity (occ./m2) increased between 1998 and 2013. Seventy-nine plant taxa were no longer cultivated in 2013, but 95 new plant taxa were being cultivated. The correlation between garden size and occurrence was not significant, i.e. small gardens might host many different plant taxa or large gardens might have fewer plant taxa. The occurrence for certain use categories was not significantly different between the years, except for the increase in the occurrence of plant taxa used as food and the food subcategory spice. The mean abundance of individuals for all plant taxa showed a significant decrease between the years. In 2013, an increase in standard deviation of abundance is seen. The variation in the different use categories expressed in abundance between the years was not significantly different, except for the decrease in the abundance of plant taxa used as food. Between 1998 and 2017, six home gardens showed a change of their spatial configuration (replacement by raised beds; merging with other structures; conversion to lawn). One FHG shows signs of abandonment.ConclusionsIn Sillian, gardens are by no way static agroecological units, but are dynamic and individual in their appearance, composition and function. Farmers’ home gardens in Sillian show a trend towards becoming more individual, i.e. conversion from being a product of a homogenous local cultural script of the community into an area where gardeners define more individually the role that farmers’ homegardens are expected to play for them or their family.

Enough to Feed Ourselves!—Food Plants in Bulgarian Rural Home Gardens

“…The number of cultivated and semi-cultivated taxa in Bulgarian rural home gardens that were used for food and as medicinal and/or culinary herbs was rather high. However, the number of species per garden ranged similarly to previously reported data for home gardens in other European countries [16,18,48]. Rosaceae was the most diversely represented family, but the fruiting vegetables from Solanaceae and Cucurbitaceae were of main interest to our participants.…”

“…The cultivation practices applied by our respondents were labor-and resource-intensive, thus presenting Bulgarian rural home gardens as relatively large, high-maintenance spaces, contrary to the approaches favored by garden owners in the Austrian Alps, who sought to reduce additional labor input when expanding their gardens [16]. Those and also many home gardens around the world were reported to depend less on inputs in mechanization and industrial agrochemical products, thus enhancing their role as sustainable sources of healthy food [8].…”

“…Fodder cultivation was found in a very low number of gardens, even in SMM settlements, corresponding with a reduction in the number of animal farms in Bulgaria in recent years [52]. In Europe (Eastern Alps and Hungary), the multifunctional profile of the garden was related to the production of fodder for livestock [16,50]. Tropical home gardens also were found to provide not only for more diverse and healthy nutrition but also for firewood, timber and cash crops [9,53].…”

“…Private gardens in the tropical zones have been more frequently discussed in their current relation to self-provisioning, presenting an important part of the livelihoods of economically struggling communities [8][9][10][11][12]. A broad variety of plants used as food are reported in a number of studies dedicated to the past and present of the cultivation of edible species in European home gardens [13][14][15][16][17]. However, being largely supplanted by the globalized agri-food industry, temperate and especially European home gardens and their owners have drawn less attention [5,16].…”

“…A broad variety of plants used as food are reported in a number of studies dedicated to the past and present of the cultivation of edible species in European home gardens [13][14][15][16][17]. However, being largely supplanted by the globalized agri-food industry, temperate and especially European home gardens and their owners have drawn less attention [5,16]. Since the beginning of the new Millennium, European home gardens have presented a colorful spectrum in East-West direction.…”