Who are we?

In 1895 the first allotment garden area was established in Malmö in the south of Sweden. In Stockholm the first allotment gardens were established in 1904. The local authorities were inspired by Anna Lindhagen, a woman in the upper ranks of society, who visited allotment gardens in Copenhagen and was delighted by them.

At about the same time allotment garden areas were established in many parts of Sweden. The Swedish Federation, established in 1921, today represents some 26.000 allotment and leisure gardeners. The members are organized in about 275 local societies all over Sweden. The land is usually rented from the local authorities but each member owns his chalet (if there is one). In Stockholm and many other towns you can only sell your chalet through the society. To avoid unreasonable price rises the societies in these places decide the price of the chalet based on special formulas.

The Swedish Federation of Leisure Gardening is the biggest amateur gardening organization in Sweden. For some of our purposes we have formed The Swedish National Organization of Leisure Gardening Societies (in Swedish: FritidsOdlingens Riksorganisation, FOR), together with some of the other gardening societies. FOR is recognised as being the representative of the 2.5 million gardening households in Sweden. Together with Stockholm International Fairs FOR is the organizer of the big gardening exhibition Nordic Gardens, the most important garden exhibition in the Nordic countries.