Stardew Valley: The Best Crops for Each Season

Summary

In Stardew Valley, farming is the most productive way to make progress in the game, and some crops are more profitable than others.
The game is heavily inspired by the Harvest Moon series, but sets itself apart with its mining feature, where players can explore caves and fight monsters to earn income.
The best crops for each season are Strawberry for spring, Blueberries for summer, and Cranberries for fall, but players should also grow a variety of crops for gifts and completing bundles.

There are a wide variety of activities for players to keep themselves busy with in Stardew Valley, but the most productive way to make progress in the game is farming. Like other title in its genre, this game operates in seasons. Most players probably know that crops that grow in spring will wither in the summer, unless they can also grow in both seasons. However, this isn’t the only rule that one should adhere to if they want to make the most of their farming efforts. This is because some crops in Stardew Valley are better than others in terms of the overall profit they produce consistently.

Stardew Valley has a lot of similarities to the Harvest Moon series. This is because the former is heavily inspired on the latter, as evidenced by both games having farming-focused gameplay and social elements like festival participation and marriage. What sets the Stardew Valley apart from the game it’s based on is its mining feature, which features procedurally generated caves that players can explore to get ores. They can even go into combat with the various monsters that lurk in the dark crevices of each floor. Apart from adding a new dimension to the game, these mechanics give the players an additional way to earn income to buy the materials they need to optimize their farm.

The Best Stardew Valley Crops for the Warmer Seasons

In terms of profit, the best crop for spring has to be the Strawberry. This sells for 120 gold at base value, and can go as high as 240 gold for an Iridium-quality harvest. The Strawberry grows quickly, with an eight-day maturity. It keeps producing after it’s matured, too. You can get a new batch of Strawberries every four days. The slight issue with this crop is that you can only buy its seeds during the Egg Festival on the 13th of spring. As such, you can’t plant it immediately. To offset this, make sure to buy and plant as many Strawberry seeds as you can. Other great spring crops include:

Potato: 80 gold base selling price, 6-day maturity
Rhubarb: 220 gold base selling price, 13-day maturity
Cauliflower: 175 gold base selling price, 12-day maturity

For summer, Blueberries are the best choice. Like the Strawberry, this crop regrows every four days. However, it takes longer to mature at 13 days. It sells at 50 gold at base, and can sell as much as 100 gold for an Iridium-quality variant. What’s great about this seed, though, is that one can buy this from the general store anytime during summer. Other great crops to grow during the summer include:

Red cabbage: 260 gold base selling price, 9-day maturity
Coffee bean: 15 gold base selling price, 10-day maturity and 2-day regrowth
Melon: 250 gold base selling price, 12-day maturity

The Best Stardew Valley Crops for the Colder Seasons

The fall is the player’s last chance to make a profit from their land before the winter makes it impossible to grow crops (unless they own a greenhouse). As such, they’ll need to make the most of this season. The best seeds to grow during fall are Cranberries, which sell at 75 gold at base price and can go for as much as 150 gold for Iridium-quality crops. It takes seven days for these crops to mature, and they regrow every five days. Other excellent fall crops include:

Bok Choy - 80 gold base selling price, 4-day maturity
Pumpkin - 320 gold base selling price, 13-day maturity

Berries seem to be the best all-rounder crops for every season, since they produce even after maturity and often sell at a high price. However, players shouldn’t fill their farms with berries. They should also compliment them with other crops, so that they have diverse choices when it comes to gifts. More importantly, they can use the various produce they procure to complete the pantry bundles in the community center. This, in turn, lets the player create a greenhouse where they can grow all kinds of crops to their heart’s content, even during the frigid winter season.