Strawberry picking in a field

Strawberries are among the first fruits to ripen each season in most Canadian growing regions, typically opening pick-your-own fields in mid-June.

How to Read This Calendar

The dates below represent average documented ripening windows based on publicly available provincial crop reports and multi-decade agricultural records. Actual seasons shift year to year based on winter snowpack, spring frost timing, heat accumulation through June and July, and rainfall patterns in August and September. A two- to three-week deviation from these averages is normal in any given year.

Early-season fruits — strawberries, cherries, and apricots — are particularly sensitive to spring weather. A late frost in May can delay the start of strawberry season by two to three weeks and reduce cherry yields significantly without eliminating the crop entirely. Late-season fruits like apples and pears are more resilient to early-season variation but can be affected by summer drought stress or early fall frost.

British Columbia

BC has the longest and most diverse fruit-growing season in Canada, concentrated in the Okanagan Valley and Fraser Valley. The southern Okanagan around Osoyoos receives more heat units than anywhere else in the country, enabling crops — apricots, wine grapes — that can't reliably be grown east of the Rockies.

Ontario

Ontario's main fruit-growing zones are the Niagara Peninsula, Prince Edward County, and the berry-producing farms of Simcoe County and the Holland Marsh belt. The province accounts for the largest share of Canada's soft fruit production east of the Rockies.

Quebec

Quebec's primary fruit-growing region is the Montérégie — the broad agricultural plain south of Montreal between the Richelieu River and the US border. Apple production dominates, with the region accounting for roughly 60% of Quebec's total fruit output. The Eastern Townships have a longer established apple heritage, with heritage varieties maintained by several smaller farms.

Quebec also has a significant wild blueberry sector in the Saguenay–Lac-Saint-Jean and Côte-Nord regions. These are primarily commercial operations rather than pick-your-own farms, but some community-level harvesting access exists through local agreements documented by La Financière agricole du Québec.

Nova Scotia and the Annapolis Valley

The Annapolis Valley in Nova Scotia is the Atlantic province's most important fruit-growing corridor. Protected by the North Mountain ridge from Bay of Fundy cold, the valley has supported apple orchards since the 18th century. Several farms offer pick-your-own access in September and early October.

Gravenstein apples, which ripen earlier than any other major variety in the Valley, have a short shelf life and are rarely found in major grocery chains. They are most reliably available at farm stands and U-pick operations in the first two to three weeks of August.

New Brunswick

New Brunswick's fruit production is smaller in scale but includes wild blueberries in the province's inland regions and apple orchards along the Saint John River valley. Sussex and Gagetown areas have several documented pick-your-own apple operations.

Prairie Provinces

Alberta and Saskatchewan's fruit-growing sector is limited by climate but centres on Saskatoon berries (serviceberries), chokecherries, and cultivated strawberries and raspberries grown in the warmer river valleys and Lethbridge region of southern Alberta. U-pick Saskatoon berry farms operate primarily around Edmonton, Calgary, and Saskatoon.

Factors That Shift the Calendar

Several recurring patterns affect harvest timing across all regions:

Provincial agricultural ministries publish weekly crop condition updates during the growing season. These are the most current source of information for any given year and are available through the Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada agroclimate portal.