Southern Europe
Gardening in Portugal
Atlantic softening keeps summers slightly kinder than inland Iberia.
The numbers that decide your year
- Growing zones
- USDA 9a–10b · Atlantic Mediterranean
- Last spring frost
- February on the coast
- First autumn frost
- December inland
- Rainfall
- 500–1200 mm, winter dominated
The local challenge
A five-month dry season and the fire risk that comes with it.
Rules worth knowing
Invasive acacia and eucalyptus planting is restricted in several regions, and firebreak clearing is legally required.
How people actually garden here
- Quinta orchards
- Tiled courtyards
- Dry gravel planting
- Vine terraces
Native to this country
Plants that evolved here. They ask least of you and give most back to local insects and birds.
Reliable in this climate
Introduced rather than native, but proven in these conditions. Each links to its full encyclopedia entry.
Seasonal jobs
Open the calendarThe calendar reads your device clock and orders every job for the northern hemisphere.
The printed guide
The Portugal Gardening Guide
260 pages written for this country alone: its soil, its frost dates, its rules and the plants that reward the effort. Everything on this page, expanded and in your hands.
- The Atlantic Mediterranean year
- Fire-aware planting and firebreaks
- Citrus, figs and vines
- Dry-season irrigation
- Courtyard microclimates
- Coastal wind and salt
€9.95260 pages · PDF download