Stardew Valley: Best Crops For Every Season (Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter)

by Edward C. Ames, Gaming  Editor

Published in Gaming on 20/10/2019

Stardew Valley has been a huge hit on PC, as well as PS4, Xbox One, and as of last year on Nintendo Switch as well. Stardew Valley gives players an awesome virtual farming experience, and brings them all the fun they could've ever hoped for.

What's Stardew Valley?

For those of you that are not familiar with the game, Stardew Valley is a farming game similar to Harvest Moon, where you have a farm, animals and crops that you need to tend to, while trying your best to make a name for yourself in the community.

You've inherited the farm from your grandad, and all you have left to use are a few coins and some hand-me-down tools in order to start your new life on the farm.

You got tons of things to do in the game, so that you can make a simple and interesting life for yourself.

There are a variety of crop choices for each season in Stardew Valley. While in some cases you’ll want to diversify your harvest for the sake of Community Center bundles, cooking, and gift items, planting the most profitable crops is usually the primary concern among players.

How to Make Money from Crops

In order to start making money in Stardew Valley, the most important first step is to start growing crops.

You begin the game with just 500 coins and although it might seem like a lot, you'll run out really fast, and be left with nothing if you don't find a way to make money right away. That's why you need to invest in crops, but you need to be smart about it and choose the best crops for each season, in order to get the highest profit.

Here's what you need to do:

1. Invest as Soon as Possible

You need to plant your first 15 turnip seeds, which you have in your pack, right away. Once you've planted and watered your first seeds, you need to start investing as soon as you can, and buy new seeds. You can get them from a few places, like Pierre's general shop, during the Egg Festival, at the Desert and a few other places.

2. Select Your Crops Carefully

You need to be careful when selecting which crops to invest your money in. You also need to be careful about when to buy which crops, and which seasons are best for those particular crops.

If you're having trouble deciding which crops to buy first, you can go with 2-3 cauliflower seeds, a few turnip and potato seeds, which are not that expensive and grow pretty fast. That would be your safest so that you can get some start-up money, and invest in other crops later on.

3. Choose the Most Valuable Crops for Each Seasons

If you're going to kill at Stardew Valley, you'll need to choose wisely and plant the right seeds during the right seasons. You need to consider the minimum price that you can get for each crop in each season of your first year, and decide on which crops to buy.

One more trick that you can use is to save up for the greenhouse, and then be able to grow all crops, regardless of the season, including winter.

You can first plant something that will bring you fast profit, so that you can make enough money to invest in the most profitable fruits and veggies.

Here's a list of the best crops for each season to help you make the most profits.

Best Summer Crops

• Blueberries

Blueberries are a very profitable crop, that can be harvested every four days. You just need to make sure you plant them on the 1st day of summer to get the most out of them.

• Hot Peppers

Hot Peppers are not too expensive to get, yet very profitable, and can be harvested every three days once they mature, which comes up to 8 times per season.

• Starfruit

This is a bit more expensive crop, but it's very generous and can be sold for a higher profit. Seeds can be bought only from Sandy at the Desert.

• Red Cabbages

You can get red cabbages at the general store for 100g. You can use the crop in many ways and can expect it to bring you around 18g per day.

Best Fall Crops

• Cranberries

Cranberries are the most profitable crop for fall, and it's the best choice you can make if you have the money to spend.

• Pumpkins

Same as with cauliflower, if you plant pumpkins in a 3x3 square, they can become a giant crop as well.

• Grapes

Grapes can be harvested up to 6 times per season, every three days. Grapes are perfect when you're just starting out, as the seeds cost 60g. Although they are not really expensive, they can be very profitable.

Multi-seasonal crops

Multi-seasonal crops can grow and be harvested during two seasons.

Some of those include:

• Sunflower

• Wheat

• Corn

They can grow through summer or fall.

Best Spring Crops

• Strawberries

They are available only at the Spring Egg Festival and can be harvested every four days after they've matured. They are among the most valuable crops in Stardew Valley.

They do require some planning though. Since the festival is on the 13th of each spring, if you buy and plant them the same year, you'll be getting no more than 12g per day, whereas if you wait for the next season and plant them on the 1st day of spring then you can expect your profits to double, and get up to 21g.

• Rhubarb

Rhubarbs can be purchased from Sandy in the Desert for 100g, and will bring you around 9g a day.

• Potatoes

If you don't want to go to the desert, you can wait and purchase potatoes from the festival, since they can bring you a lot profit as well. They cost 80g, and give around 8g a day.

• Cauliflower

If you have larger patches, and plant the seeds in a 3x3 square you may get a giant cauliflower, and make a lot of profit from it.

• Green beans

You need to plant green beans in the beginning of the season, so that you can harvest them up to 6 times.

Note that the v1.1 update significantly increased the value of animal-based goods. Because of this, crops no longer outperform animals by a significant margin. Finding a balance between livestock such as chickens and cows, in addition to constantly investing in high value crops, is the best way to make money.

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