Gardening in Switzerland: climate, frost dates and crops by region

Climate zones of Switzerland

By the days between the last spring frost and the first autumn frost.

How the regions of Switzerland differ

The gap between the warmest month’s days and the coldest month’s nights is widest in Chur (30.1 °C) and smallest in Lausanne (24 °C): the smaller it is, the milder both winter and summer. Locarno is the wettest of these cities with 2,047 mm a year, Schaffhausen the driest with 963 mm. The hottest summer days are in Lugano (27.5 °C on average in the warmest month), the coolest in Chur (17.7 °C). In 16 of the 18 cities at least one month averages below 0 °C at night; the longest such winter is in Chur (October–April).

Which crops suit which part of Switzerland

Season long enough: the days from planting to the first autumn frost cover the days to the first harvest on the plant card. Each window starts on the Greenly calendar date and ends on the last day that still leaves the crop’s days to harvest (from its card) before the average first autumn frost, plus six weeks of picking for crops harvested over weeks (tomatoes, peppers, aubergines, cucumbers, courgettes, pumpkins, watermelons, beans) — our rule; earlier in the window is safer.

Cities of Switzerland: weather in numbers

ERA5 2016–2025 via Open-Meteo, 25 km grid cell of each city; dates by the Greenly calendar and the plant cards.

More about Switzerland

• Switzerland: frost dates by city
• Selling your harvest in Switzerland
• Where to buy seeds and plants
• When to plant tomatoes in Switzerland
• When to plant cucumbers in Switzerland
• When to plant peas in Switzerland
• When to plant garlic in Switzerland
• Gardening by country