Harvest Hour · Food and farm trails in Australia
Australian seasons run opposite to the northern hemisphere and shift by weeks across the continent. Here is the shape of the year.
Summer runs December to February, autumn March to May, winter June to August, spring September to November. Everything below is anchored to that, and every date shifts with latitude.
The same crop can be six weeks apart between Queensland and Tasmania. Growers in the north hit the market first; the southern regions extend the season at the other end. That is why you can buy Australian cherries over a longer window than any single orchard produces them.
Altitude does the same thing on a smaller scale. Hill country runs later than the plains below it, which is why a region like the Adelaide Hills picks after the valleys nearby.
December through February is the peak. Cherries arrive first and briefly — the season is genuinely short and the good fruit sells fast. Apricots, peaches, nectarines and plums follow in overlapping waves.
Berries run through summer, with strawberries the longest season and raspberries and blackberries more concentrated. Most pick-your-own operations are running now, and most of them are busiest in the first two hours of the day.
This is also mango season in the north, and the arrival of the first trays in southern markets is treated as a minor national event.
March to May is apple and pear country. The Hills, the Victorian high country and Tasmania all pick through this window, and the range of varieties at a farm gate in April is far beyond anything in a supermarket.
This is also grape harvest. Vintage timing varies by region and variety but broadly runs late summer into autumn, earlier in the warm inland regions and later in cool-climate areas.
Autumn is the best month for a produce-focused trip generally: the weather is stable, the harvest is in, and the regions are alive without the summer heat.
June through August belongs to citrus. Oranges, mandarins, lemons and grapefruit are at their best, and the mandarin season in particular is worth planning around.
Brassicas, root vegetables and leafy greens carry the vegetable side. This is soup and braise territory, and farm gates shift accordingly.
It is the quiet season for visitors, which is its own argument for going. Cellar doors have time, accommodation is cheaper, and the regions look different without the crowds.
September to November starts thin and accelerates. Asparagus is the marker — a short, intense season that people who care about it plan around.
Broad beans, peas and early greens follow, then the first strawberries, then the first stone fruit at the very end of spring in the warmer districts.
Spring is also when farms look their best and when the weather is least reliable. Both of those are worth knowing before you plan an outdoor day.
The practical use of all this is to stop planning a trip around a product and start planning it around a window. Deciding in July that you want to pick cherries means waiting until December, not driving somewhere hopeful.
Regional visitor pages and grower associations publish season updates that are more current than any general guide, including this one. A crop that is three weeks late because of a cold spring will be reported there and nowhere else.
And when you do arrive in the right window, buy more than you need. Stone fruit freezes, apples keep for months in a cold dark place, and a glut is the cheapest the good stuff will ever be.
The point of buying at the farm gate in season is that things are cheap and abundant. The risk is that half of it rots on the bench.
Stone fruit freezes well if you halve and stone it first and freeze it spread on a tray before bagging. It comes out fine for cooking and terrible for eating raw, which is worth knowing before you fill a freezer.
Apples keep for months somewhere cold, dark and slightly humid, provided they are unblemished and not touching each other. One bruised apple in a box will take the rest with it, hence the old advice about one bad apple.
Tomatoes, berries and soft fruit are better cooked down and preserved than frozen whole. A batch of passata or a few jars of jam on the evening you get home is an hour of work that makes a summer glut last to winter, and it costs a fraction of the equivalent from a shop.