• Fresh fruits and vegetables are best when consumed during their peak harvest season.Jupiterimages/Brand X Pictures/Getty Images
  
  With so many fruits and vegetables available on produce counters year-round, produce-lovers sometimes forget that fruits and vegetables typically have a "season" when they are at their best in peak flavor and texture. Many plants such as apples, grapes, corn and beans, enjoy cross-over seasons, when different varieties come to harvest in different seasons. Some foods, such as onions and artichokes, will be harvest-ready in both spring and fall.
  
  

Spring

• Mid-spring is the best time to enjoy fresh strawberries and rhubarb. These two plants are sometimes served together in seasonal favorite, strawberry-rhubarb pie. By June, cherries are in fruit for fresh pies, jellies and preserves. Asparagus is an early spring vegetable that usually heralds the official end of winter in many northern regions. Artichokes are also a spring-harvested plant. Morel mushrooms usually appear in late April, along with peas, lettuce, radishes and baby carrots, spinach and onions.
  
  

Summer

• Early summer sees the fragrant berry blossoms turn to fruit. Gardens, fields and woods are filled with blackberries, raspberries, blueberries and boysenberries. The sweet and tart cherries that began fruiting in late spring continue through early summer. Peaches, plums, nectarines, melons and early apples and grapes make an appearance. A medley of fresh vegetables will be ready to harvest in summer: green beans, cucumbers, corn, tomatoes, early peppers and baby squash are all table-ready.
  
  

Autumn

• This traditional harvest season yields long-growing fruits such as pears, quince, cranberries, apples and grapes. In the vegetable garden, beans, eggplant, tomatoes, kohlrabi, zucchini, sweet potatoes, white potatoes, carrots, peppers and celery are ready to pick. The later varieties of corn are harvested in earnest in early autumn. As the corn harvest fades, the bright orange of ripe pumpkins, yellow squash and gourds take their places. Beets, broccoli and brussels sprouts join the harvest as autumn cools. The second picking of artichokes, smaller than the spring harvest, should be ready now.
  
  

Winter

• Citrus fruit takes center stage in the wintertime produce department, beginning with harvests of oranges and tangerines. Around Christmas, you'll see crates of clementines appear, filled with tiny, sweet and juicy oranges that were once traditional favorites in children's stockings on Christmas morning. You can just brush the snow off the stalks of brussels sprouts and broccoli to serve for holiday dinners. Dig up the last of the beets and potatoes for their long winter storage.