What's in Season, Month by Month
· LocalMarketSpot
Twelve guides to what Australian growers are picking, one for each month, with the peaks, the first pickings and the last chances in every state.
Australia has no single season for anything. Mangoes are picked from August in Darwin to March in Queensland. Strawberries are a winter crop in the north and a summer one in the south. A calendar that ignores that tells you very little.
So these twelve guides go month by month and state by state. Each one says what is at its peak, what has just started and what is in its last weeks, using harvest months and not shop availability.
Summer
December. Cherries and mangoes at their peak, the first southern berries, and the summer vegetables arriving.
January. Peak stone fruit, tomatoes and sweet corn in the south, the first table grapes, and Tasmanian cherries.
February. Late summer at its peak, with the first apples, pears and figs arriving underneath it.
Autumn
March. The crossover month: apples and figs at their peak, pumpkin starting, and the last of the stone fruit.
April. Apples, pumpkin and pomegranates at their peak, the first persimmons, and the end of southern tomatoes.
May. Root vegetables and brassicas in the south, and the start of Queensland's winter crops.
Winter
June. Citrus arrives, and winter strawberries and blueberries start in the north.
July. Mandarins at their peak, brassicas everywhere in the south, and winter strawberries at their best.
August. Peak oranges, the last southern mandarins, and the first spring greens.
Spring
September. Asparagus starts, peas follow, citrus winds down and the first mangoes are picked in the west.
October. Peak asparagus and peas, the first southern strawberries, and the last month before stone fruit.
November. The first cherries and apricots in the south, the last good weeks of asparagus, and mangoes in the north.
The shape of the year
Read in order, the guides trace one loop. Stone fruit arrives in November and is gone by the end of March. Apples and pumpkin take over through autumn. Citrus is at its best from June to September, while Queensland grows much of the country's winter vegetables. Asparagus announces spring in September, and by October the south is waiting for cherries again.
Two patterns hold all year. Queensland has the longest list from April to November and Victoria has it over summer. And Tasmania runs latest: its cherries start in January, when most of the mainland is finishing.
Look up a single crop or state
Every crop has its own page under what's in season, with a calendar for each state that grows it. The season lookup takes a state and any month and shows what is being picked. Eating with the seasons explains why the calendar splits the way it does, and farmers markets are where you will find the growers.
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Frequently Asked Questions
- Is there one seasonal calendar for all of Australia?
- No. The country grows across several climate zones at once, so a crop can be finishing in one state as it starts in another. Queensland picks strawberries in winter and Victoria in summer. Each monthly guide is written state by state for that reason.
- Are these the months produce is in the shops?
- They are harvest months, when growers are picking. Apples, pears, potatoes, onions and pumpkin are sold for months after harvest from storage, and imports fill other gaps, so a shop shelf rarely looks seasonal. A grower's table at a farmers market does.
- Which month has the most in season?
- March. Victoria and Queensland each have 32 crops being picked, because the summer crops have not finished and the autumn ones have started. For fruit, the quietest month in the south is October, between the end of citrus and the start of stone fruit.
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