Do you know what fruits and vegetables are in season right now? Most of us go to the grocery store and buy what we want without really thinking about it. However, it is better for you and the environment to eat with the seasons. Use this guide to find out what fruits and vegetables are in season before you head out the the farmer’s market or store. Then, bookmark this page as a reference to use all year long! 

Check out these other articles about why it is important to eat with the seasons:

• 6 Reasons to Eat Seasonally
• How to Eat the Seasons: A Complete Guide

Growing Zones

This seasonal food guide applies to United States growing zones 3 to 7. Your growing zone is an indication of the average annual low and high temperatures and will give you an understanding of what plants can survive in your area and for how long. The produce in this guide will generally grow in all zones, but the timeframe may be different.

If you live in the cooler zones 1-2, your growing time frame will be much shorter. Some produce will overlap with months listed in the seasonal food guide below, but you can expect most foods to be in season only when there is no frost, which may only be June-Early September. In this situation, you will have to rely more on storing produce and other preservation techniques in order to continue to eat locally year round.

On the other hand, if you are in a warmer climate, zones 8-10, then you can expect to grow things all year and will have the added bonus of being able to grow more tropical fruits such as oranges, grapefruits, and avocados. Lucky you! Some of these warm weather fruits are listed in the seasonal food guide and they are marked as zones 8-10 only. If you want to keep your eating habits entirely local, then you will not be able to eat these foods unless you live in that zone. However, in the winter time when fruit is scarce in the Midwest, I personally make exceptions for citrus from the United States. 

Click here to find out what growing zone you live in.

Storage Produce

So what is storage produce? Well, certain fruits and vegetables are harvested late in the growing season, usually before the first frost, and then will keep for awhile, sometimes even months, if stored properly. That means that you can continue to eat locally even when there is snow on the ground. The key to using this technique is to store the produce properly. Using a cool, dark, and humid location, such as a root cellar or spare refrigerator, will give you the best chance of keeping the produce long term. Store onions and apples away from other produce since they put off ethylene gas which will cause other fruits and vegetables to ripen and rot faster. 

The seasonal food guide below includes storage produce and will be indicated as such. The winter months of January, February, and March produce very little in the way of freshly harvested fruits and vegetables in growing zones 3-7. In order to eat locally during this time, you will need to utilize storage produce.

What Fruits and Vegetables are in Season?

Click on each season below to find out what fruits and vegetables are in season during those months. 

Spring

Fall

Winter

Spring

Summer

Fall

Find out more about local and seasonal eating here:

• 6 Reasons to Eat Seasonally
• How to Eat the Seasons: A Complete Guide