Whether you’re looking for harvest work Victoria or Australia wide, or just want to know when your favourite locally grown fruits will be at their best, it’s important to understand the differing harvest periods so you can pick the ripest fruit possible.

Australia has many different climates, ranging from temperate through to tropical environments across our country. For seasonal work like fruit picking, this means there are endless job opportunities that can take you throughout the whole year and across Australia – if you’re prepared to travel.

Depending on what fruit and vegetables you want to pick, growing and harvest seasons vary greatly. Victoria tends to have different crops harvested at different times of the year whereas many crops in Queensland can be grown and harvested all year long.

Today we’ll be going through the harvest periods for all the varieties of fruit that are grown across the Goulburn Valley area.

November

November is the time when warmer weather will usually start to spread across the region and is the time to start harvesting cherries and apricots. The harvest period for apricots grown in the Goulburn Valley will start in the last week of November and last sometimes through to January – weather dependant.

December

December will see a variety of fruits become ripe and ready to harvest, these include cherries, nectarines and more varieties of apricots. The harvest period for cherries and nectarines will begin from the second week of December until the first week of January.

January

The heat of January will see nectarines picking, peaches and plums ready for harvest. These fruits will be ripe and ready throughout most of January and into February.

February

The month of February will see both pears and a few varieties of apples ready for harvesting. All varieties of pears, from Packham to Goulburn Valley Gold pears, will be ready throughout February and into the second week of March. While royal gala apples and earlier varieties like Kanzi apples will be ready to harvest in the second week of February and into the start of March.

March

March is the time of year when granny smith apples will be ready to harvest, this variety of apples will be ready to pick at the end of March and into April.

April

The cooler month of April will see pink lady apples coming into season and will be ready for picking and harvest throughout all of April and up to the second week of May sometimes later weather depending.

May

When the weather starts to cool down is the exact time that late varieties of apples will be ready for picking. Throughout May and June will be the period that these later varieties of apples will be ready for harvest and strip picking also takes place.

Find the Perfect Fruit Picking Job at PickGV 

If you’re interested in taking on a fruit picking job this harvest season or want to learn more about the different harvest periods across the Goulburn Valley region, make sure to visit our website today.