A bumblebee visits with Helén Karlsson Eklundh as she works in her garden in Stockholm. Photo / New York Times
Known as koloniträdgårdar, they provide city dwellers access to nature, fresh produce and community.
On an unseasonably warm June morning in Stockholm, Stina Larsson, 98, stood among fragrant lilacs, lilies and lavender, inspecting the garden that she has tended for more than 40 years. Rabbits had been nibbling the nasturtiums, she noticed, and there were weeds that needed pulling.
Larsson’s garden, situated on a postage stamp of land beside the Karlbergs Canal, is one of more than 7000 garden allotments, known as koloniträdgårdar, in Stockholm. The gardens, established as part of a social movement around the turn of the 20th century, offer city dwellers access to green space and a reprieve from crowded urban life.
Though most are modest in size – Larsson’s garden is about 90sq m – koloniträdgårdar are prized for providing a rare kind of urban sanctuary, a corner of the city where residents can trade pavement for soil and the buzz of traffic for birdsong.
The garden programmes were specifically designed to improve the mental and physical health of city dwellers, said Fredrik Björk, a lecturer at Malmö University who specialises in environmental history.
“The idea was that a working-class family would be able to spend the summer there and work together but also have some leisure and fun,” Björk said on the phone from his own koloniträdgård in Ärtholmen, a garden association in Malmö that dates back to the 1940s.
“In those days, there was lots of heavy drinking,” Björk said. But at the garden colonies, he said, “instead of drinking alcohol, you would grow potatoes”.
The health benefits of gardening are well established, both for the physical activity and for the time spent in nature. Cecilia Stenfors, an associate professor of psychology at Stockholm University, said her research shows that those who frequently visit green spaces, whether a forest or a koloniträdgård, “have better health outcomes, in terms of fewer depressive symptoms, less anxiety, better sleep and fewer feelings of loneliness and social isolation”.
These positive effects can be particularly pronounced in older people and can help combat symptoms of age-related mental and physical decline. Maja-Lena Säfström, 80, who owns a cotton-candy-pink cottage in a garden association outside of Uppsala, said she had seen many wellness benefits from having a koloniträdgård.
“When you’re in an apartment, you don’t move much, but if you have a garden, you move around in a different way, and that makes you feel better,” she said. Garden associations can also help foster social connection, Säfström explained, giving residents a chance to meet other people with similar interests.
Rising interest in koloniträdgårdar, particularly among younger Swedes, has led to an increase in prices in recent years. Björk said cottages in his association can sell for over 1 million Swedish kronor (about $174,000). In Stockholm, however, prices are regulated to help ensure the gardens remain affordable, said Katrin Holmberg, a board member of Stockholms Koloniträdgårdar.
“It’s a great leisure activity for people; it’s healthy, and you’re outdoors a lot,” she said. “I think the city understands that, as well as the fact that it contributes to biodiversity in urban areas.”
Stockholm residents who can’t afford to buy their own plot can still enjoy the benefits of the koloniträdgårdar, which are all open to the general public to enjoy. But for those who wish to own a garden of their own, the biggest obstacle, apart from the price tag, is availability.
There are more than 50,000 plots across Sweden, but demand far outpaces supply. Eriksdalslundens Koloniträdgårdsförening, an association of 143 plots on the southern island of Södermalm that is among the most popular garden colonies in central Stockholm, has over 1100 people on the waiting list. And the wait times can be incredibly long. One couple I spoke to, Bengt and Susanne Kopp, were on a waiting list for 17 years before they were finally able to buy a cottage in 2023.
For many Swedes like the Eklundhs, a koloniträdgård is more than just a storybook cottage and thriving garden. It’s also an active hobby with wide-ranging health benefits and a restorative escape from the city without ever needing to leave it.
This article originally appeared in the New York Times.
Written by: Ingrid K. Williams
Photographs by: Sofia Runarsdotter
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