Opening day on the calendar is one thing. The real season begins when the first grower pulls in with a crate of asparagus and a few bags of overwintered spinach, and it ends sometime in November when the last table is holding nothing but carrots, kale and storage onions.

What lands on those tables changes every two weeks or so. This guide walks through the season in order, along with the market-day habits that make a short window go further. Treat the dates as a map rather than a schedule — weather moves everything, and a cool spring can push a crop back by a week or two without warning.

How the Season Actually Runs

Most markets in the borough open between 8 and 9 a.m. and close between 1 and 2 p.m., with a few weekday-afternoon markets for people who can't do weekends. Peak-season hours in July and August sometimes stretch an extra hour, and holiday weekends can trim them. Before you drive across town, check the market's own page — that's where weather cancellations and one-off changes get posted first.

Rain rarely cancels a market. Lightning and high wind do. Vendors who have spent the week harvesting will stand in a drizzle all morning, so don't skip a wet Saturday; you'll get the best selection of the year and no line for it.

Two rules of thumb about timing:

• First hour: best selection of eggs, bread, cheese, mushrooms and specialty greens, and the shortest wait at the popular stalls.
• Last half hour: markdowns on bread, dairy and anything the growers don't want to pack back into the truck.

Neither trip is wrong. Just decide which one you're making before you park.

Late Spring: May Into Early June

Asparagus leads, and it doesn't last. The local window runs roughly six to eight weeks, so buy it twice a week while it's here and cook it the day you get it home. Alongside it you'll find rhubarb, spinach, head lettuce, radishes, scallions, pea shoots, chives, green garlic and the first bunches of herbs.

Strawberries usually appear at the very end of this stretch, and they sell out fast on the first warm Saturday. This is also the thinnest part of the season — the same ten or fifteen stalls week to week. Use it. Growers have time to talk in May, and they'll tell you more about when their tomatoes usually land than any calendar will.

Early Summer: June and July

What shows up

Strawberries in early June, then sugar snap and snow peas, broccoli, cabbage, kohlrabi, garlic scapes, zucchini, cucumbers and the first blueberries. Sweet cherries arrive late in the month in most years, raspberries follow in July, and new potatoes, beets, chard, green beans and basil fill in behind them.

How to shop it

Buy strawberries by the flat only if you have a plan for them — they turn within a day or two. Garlic scapes are the quiet bargain of June: chop them, pack them in small bags and freeze them for winter stir-fries. If you're buying blueberries from a grower you don't know, taste first; sweetness varies a lot between varieties, and a flat is a commitment.

Expect crowds. By mid-June the eggs, the good bread and the salad mix are often gone before 9:30. If those are the reason you're going, go early.

High Summer: Late July Through August

This is the month the market was built for: tomatoes, sweet corn, sweet and hot peppers, eggplant, peaches, plums, melons, tomatillos, fresh onions, cured garlic, blackberries and, in warmer corners of the borough, okra.

A few things worth knowing before you fill a bag:

• Tomatoes: ask which varieties are for slicing and which are for sauce. "Seconds" — the slightly blemished ones — are usually cheaper and better for cooking, canning and freezing.
• Corn: look for tight husks and slightly damp silk, and cook it the same day if you can.
• Peaches: ask the grower which ones are ready to eat today and which need two days on the counter. Don't squeeze them; you bruise the fruit behind it and the grower notices.

August is the month to buy in volume. A half bushel of tomatoes, a bag of peppers to roast and freeze, a big bundle of basil for pesto — that's how a Saturday morning turns into a stocked freezer in February.

Fall Through the Cold End: September to November

Early September tomatoes are often the best of the year, so don't abandon them the moment the first apples show up. Apples, pears, cider, grapes, winter squash and pumpkins roll in through the month, followed by sweet potatoes, leeks, Brussels sprouts, kale, collards, turnips and parsnips. Late raspberries get one more run before the frost.

Root vegetables and greens get sweeter after a cold night, so the November table is better than it looks. Apples keep for weeks in a cool spot; winter squash keeps even longer at room temperature and shouldn't go in the fridge. Buy storage crops — onions, garlic, potatoes, squash — by the bag now, while the selection is deep.

As the season winds down, some markets move indoors or switch to a twice-monthly schedule through winter. Check rather than assume. And ask the growers who stick it out about winter CSAs and pre-order boxes; they're often the best deal of the year and they keep a little money moving through the market in January.

Shopping Habits That Pay Off

• Bring cash and small bills. Many vendors take cards, but cash moves faster and a few small stalls still prefer it.
• Bring your own bags, plus a sturdy box or two if you're buying flats or half bushels.
• Walk the whole market once before you buy anything. Quality and price vary more between stalls than you'd expect.
• Ask what was picked this morning and what's coming next week. Growers answer those questions gladly.
• Don't handle produce you aren't buying, and take samples only when they're offered.
• Check the info booth for SNAP and EBT acceptance, matching programs and senior nutrition vouchers. Rules differ from market to market, so ask instead of guessing.
• Follow the market's page for weather closures, guest vendors and one-off events like chef demos or seed swaps.

Make It a Habit

The market rewards regulars. A twenty-minute loop every week changes how you cook more than any single big shop will, because you're buying what's actually good that week instead of what a list told you to want. Keep a running note on your phone of what you bought and what you'd buy again. If Saturdays don't work, ask about pre-orders or a CSA share. And if you're new to it, start with one thing — a bag of August tomatoes, a squash in October — and build from there. The season runs out faster than anyone expects.

Photo: PublicDomainPictures / Pixabay