Northern Europe
Gardening in Sweden
Short summers with astonishing daylight, and long dark winters that plants sleep through.
The numbers that decide your year
- Growing zones
- USDA 3a–8a · long light summers
- Last spring frost
- Mid May to mid June
- First autumn frost
- September to October
- Rainfall
- 500–800 mm
The local challenge
A very short season redeemed by eighteen-hour midsummer days.
Rules worth knowing
Allemansrätten allows access to land but not to garden crops; some municipalities restrict tree removal.
How people actually garden here
- Naturalistic planting
- Berry gardens
- Greenhouse growing
- Cottage kitchen gardens
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 Sweden Gardening Guide
248 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.
- Growing under the midnight sun
- Season extension in glass
- Berries and hardy fruit
- Perennials for zone 4
- Snow cover and mulching
- Regional daylight tables
€9.95248 pages · PDF download