Station: [13] Öxler Museum - Garden

You’re in – what amounted to a supermarket for the farmer’s wife. This was where she sowed and harvested vegetables for her family’s use. As to what she would have grown – well, turnips, carrots, kale, beetroot, beans, parsnips, potatoes and herbs. Only fruit trees refused to prosper in the black soil. But from the 1920s on, fruit vines came into fashion. The farmer’s wife turned the berries into wine and liqueurs. If you’re wondering how we know – we discovered glass demijohns in the attics, which were used to ferment liqueurs and store wine.  

We’ve restored the gardens -- almost -- to their original layout. They’re exactly the same size as in the past. These days, we have four vegetable beds, laid out around a central rose roundel edged with chunks of limestone. Everything is organically grown. In the past, the gardens were all laid out in the same pattern; we’ve only deviated from it for the cut flowers. In the old days, it was the beds along the road that were planted with decorative flowers. After all, there’s nothing wrong with a colourful display of blooms to impress the neighbours. 

Today, we have one gardener who looks after the museum gardens – this one, and another at Hofstetter Haus. Classes of schoolchildren regularly come to visit. The children pick and wash the vegetables and then sample them. In October of each year, we have a “veggie Sunday”, when we open the gardens to visitors. Anyone can drop by and pick vegetables, salad crops and herbs for free. It’s self-sufficient, just as it was a century ago. 

Please go inside – and see how even in the old days, people liked to make their “house beautiful”.