Trädgårdsmästarens förökningsmetoder: dokumentation av hantverkskunskap

Abstract

Plant propagation is craft expertise that has been developed within a gardening tradition in which knowledge has primarily been transferred from one practitioner to another by showing and explaining. When the transfer of knowledge in practice wanes, documentation of working methods can provide support for passing on propagation experiences. But when we try to describe our experiences working with craft-based propagation methods in words alone, a communication problem arises. This thesis is about knowledge and knowledge sharing in the work gardeners do propagating perennials. The aim is to explore the methods for documenting – and communicating – gardeners’ expertise in the vegetative propagation of perennials. By observing gardeners’ working methods in propagation, participating in propagation work at nurseries, analyzing the notes I took on instructions given, and conducting my own gardening experiments I have been able to explore the following general questions: What constitutes the knowledge of an experienced practitioner of plant propagation? How can we understand this knowledge, and how can it be documented in a way that allows it to be conveyed to others systematically? Three different perspectives provided the point of departure for the study: the object-oriented, the practice-oriented, and the subject-oriented perspectives. This approach is based on Bengt Molander’s research on knowledge in action, and on analysis of the theoretical concept’s various orientations. These three perspectives – focusing on object, practice, and subject – have determined the format of the thesis. Their structure is an outcome of the study findings, a categorization system based on the plant parts used in vegetative propagation, reflections on documentation methods and reflections about the function of personal knowledge, situation-specific knowledge and knowledge development in plant propagation practice. The structure with the three perspectives is therefore also an answer to the question of how a gardener’s propagation expertise might be documented.