California · Garden vegetables
Typically mid-May to mid-November, with peak mid-June through late September.
Hatched chalk = early and late shoulders; solid = peak.
Desert and southern fields open the season; Central Valley and coastal crops run deep into fall.
From mid-May — first pickings, lighter supply, best prices come later.
mid-June through late September — full stalls, full flavor. This is the stretch to plan around.
Through mid-November — quantity for preserving, and the stalls start dealing.
about 26 weeks end to end, shoulders included.
Offered at many u-pick vegetable farms; snip with pruners rather than pulling so branches do not break. The picking window tracks the band above: early trips get clean fields, peak (mid-June through late September) is the sure bet, late season is for quantity.
Farm-to-farm variation is real — up to two weeks either side of the typical window. Plan the trip, then call the farm before you drive.
Pepper peak moves across the map. After this window, it lands next in:
The whole national sweep · everything in season in California
In California, the pepper season typically runs mid-May to mid-November, with peak availability mid-June through late September. Exact weeks shift a little with each year's weather.
Aim for peak: mid-June through late September. An early trip around mid-May gets first choice of clean fields; a late one is for stock-the-freezer quantity. Any single farm can run up to two weeks either side of the chart — call before you drive.
about 26 weeks end to end — mid-May to mid-November. The early and late shoulders are real but lighter; the solid stretch of chalk on the band is the sure bet.