Summer in Stardew Valley is green trees, grass, and butterflies. There are nine birthdays and two festivals, the Luau and the Dance of the Moonlight Jellies. In the summer of the first year, the railroad and spa area of the game map is unlocked as well.
Every season in Stardew Valley has its quirks. As usual, players are expected to farm. However, the summer season influences the fish, crops, foragables, events, and weather. The best things players can do in summer includes finding what can profit them the best and what to prepare for in the events and coming fall season.
Summer is one of the key seasons in the game. It’s one most players will be busy in, since it involves tons of crop farming. Summer crops are often considered the best crops in the game, but there are other ways to get the most out of summer, too.
Buy And Plant Starfruit
Starfruit is an incredibly profitable crop, but it’s unlikely players on their first year will have access to the Oasis store in Calico Desert where Sandy sells them. However, for the second and third years, buying a few extra Starfruit seed packets is ideal for summer since it’s the most profitable crop in the game once processed in a Keg and aged in a Cask.
A regular Starfruit will sell for 750 gold, but once processed in a Keg, the price is bumped to 2250 gold. This processing price is the same for Starfruit of any quality but is an especially nice boost for any regular quality Starfruit.
Complete Summer Bundles
The biggest priority for the summer of the first year is to complete all of the Community Center bundles that have to do with summer. If not, the next opportunity for this is in a year, which can get pretty frustrating for players. This includes the following items in these bundles:
- Summer Foraging Bundle: Grape, Spice Berry, Sweet Pea Summer Crops Bundle: Tomato, Hot Pepper, Blueberry, Melon Quality Crops Bundle: 5 x Melon (Gold quality) Artisan Bundle: Peach and Orange from trees (this is unlikely for the first year) And the following fish for the fish tank: Sunfish, Shad, Carp, Sturgeon, Tuna, Red Snapper, Tilapia, Pufferfish.
Make A Bigger Farming Area
Crops are a big money-maker in summer. To utilize that, it is a good idea to make larger fields to plant crops. Make sure the layout leaves room for scarecrows and sprinklers. If it is the player’s first summer in Stardew Valley, then they will want to have a little of everything when it comes to crops.
Single harvest crops include melons, wheat, sunflowers, poppies, red cabbage, radishes, starfruit, and summer spangles. Crops that produce more than once include hops, coffee beans, blueberries, hot peppers, tomatoes, and corn.
Pro Tip: Get A Coop Or A Barn
For a first-year summer especially, if the player can afford it, it’s a good idea to invest in a coop or barn at this point. Coops will be the most likely choice for most players and will help with completing community center bundles, as well as contribute extra profit from mayonnaise.
Make Bank With Blueberries
Blueberries are known to be the most profitable crop of summer. They take 13 days to grow and produce three berries with every harvest. While the blueberries can be sold raw, they can also be turned into jelly or wine.
Make sure to plant blueberry seeds from Pierre’s shop on the first day of summer. That way, players can harvest from the plant about four times before fall comes. Seeds only cost 80 gold while each berry sells for 50 gold. That is 150 gold per harvest since each harvest produces three berries.
Pro Tip: Use The Highest Quality For Kegs And Preserves Jars
Gold star blueberries should be a top priority for the player to place into kegs and preserves jars. Even on their own, they won’t sell for as much as they will once they’re turned into jelly or wine. The only difference is the time spent turning them into these products, so it depends on how fast the player needs a profit.
Buy And Plant Corn
Corn is a little special because it grows throughout both summer and fall. So it can be a part of a farm for half of an entire year. Like blueberries, corn can be harvested multiple times.
It takes corn 14 days to grow. Each seed can be bought at Pierre’s Shop for 150 gold. Every piece of corn sells for 50 gold, but profit is certainly going to happen with the crop regrowing for two whole seasons. Once fall comes, players will already have a mature crop ready.
Pro Tip: Save Some Corn For Oil
Corn can be used to make cooking oil in the oil maker. While the selling price of cooking oil isn’t great, it’s an important ingredient for a lot of good recipes. Players will want to cook a bunch of recipes to gain access to powerful buffs, so make sure to save a few pieces of corn for cooking purposes.
Catch Summer Fish
There are a lot of fish that are only catchable during the summer. These include Pufferfish, Tuna, Rainbow Trout, Octopus, Dorado, and Crimsonfish. For players that complete the main quest (the Community Center or Joja Community), some of these fish can be accessible during all seasons on Ginger Island. These fish include Tuna and Pufferfish.
Some are particularly hard to get, and not only because they are only around for one season. For example, Crimsonfish requires level five fishing and can only be caught at the East Pier on the beach.
Pro Tip: Crab Pots Are Great For Bad Fishers
The fishing mini-game can be a little challenging for newcomers to the game. If it gets frustrating, it’s possible to also level up the fishing skill by purchasing or crafting crab pots and placing them in water. These are great all year, but especially useful at the beginning of the game.
Invest In Quality Sprinklers
Watering the crops every day is time-consuming. Summer is the perfect season to start using Quality Sprinklers. These craftable items water three-by-three areas every morning so players don’t have to.
There are several ways to get them. To unlock Quality Sprinklers, players need to have a farmer at level six. It is also a reward for completing the Summer Crops Bundle or the Garden Bundle in the Pantry. On rare occasions, it can be in the stock of the Traveling Cart or be found in a treasure room in the Skull Cavern.
Quality Sprinklers are crafted with one iron bar, one gold bar, and one refined quartz.
Pro Tip: Krobus Sells Iridium Sprinklers Every Friday
For players who have unlocked the sewers with the Rusty Key and have extra money, Iridium Sprinklers are already a possibility as early as the summer of the first year. Every Friday, Krobus will sell one for 10,000 gold. It’s a hefty price, but absolutely worth the investment.
Prepare For The Luau Event
On the 11th of summer, the Luau event occurs between nine in the morning and two o’clock in the afternoon. The main event attraction is a potluck soup, and players are going to want to save a high-quality ingredient to add to the soup. While this won’t net a profit of gold, it is a great way to boost a ton of villager friendships all at once. With a high-quality item added to the soup, players will get 120 friendship points with the villagers in attendance.
Keep in mind that only uncooked but still edible items are allowed to be added to the soup. Examples of items that work include wines, fish, milk, crops, and some foragables like mushrooms. Just make sure it is iridium or gold quality.
Pro Tip: Unlock A Secret Reaction During The Luau
If the player has managed to get a high enough friendship with Marnie to gain access to Lewis’ purple shorts, there’s a unique scene that plays out if those shorts are placed inside the Luau soup. Doing this won’t affect the friendship levels, however, which will make players miss out on the powerful friendship buff.
Prepare For Nine Birthdays
In order, the summer birthdays are Jas, Gus, Maru, Alex, Sam, Demetrius, The Dwarf, Willy, and Leo. To keep up with friendship points, it is a good idea to prepare gifts for these NPCs.
Gifts For Jas
- Pink Cake Plum Pudding Fairy Roses
Gifts For Gus
- Diamonds Oranges
Gifts For Maru
- Strawberries Cauliflower
Gifts For Alex
- Salmon Dinner Complete Breakfast
Gifts For Sam
- Cactus Fruit Pizza
Gifts For Demetrius
- Strawberries Ice Cream
Gifts For The Dwarf
- Most Gems (for example, rubies and emeralds)
Gifts For Willy
- Pumpkins Catfish
Gifts For Leo
- Duck Feathers Mangos
Invest In Hops To Make Pale Ale
Hops, a summer vegetable crop, matures after 11 days. Once harvested, place the hops into a keg to create Pale Ale, an item with one of the highest return investments in Stardew Valley. Pale Ale sells for 300 gold.
So be sure to get a keg. Players can get it at farmer level eight and it’s a reward for completing either the Artisan Bundle or the Brewers Bundle in the Pantry. It’s worth getting not just for the Pale Ale, but for making other goods like wine, beer, coffee, green tea, mead, and juice.
Pro Tip: Coffee Is Just As Important
Coffee is one of the best consumable items in the game since it gives the player a speed boost. This allows them to get more done during a day and is an essential consumable in dungeons like Skull Cavern that are swarming with enemies. Reserve a few kegs for coffee-making only, and make sure to grab the Triple Shot Espresso recipe from Gus for an even bigger boost.
Stardew Valley was released on February 26, 2021, and is available on PC, Android, iOS, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PlayStation Vita.
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