Stardew Valley has its fair spread of crops for aspiring farmers to cultivate and harvest. However, not all crops are equal in value. Picking the crops worth investing in is paramount to success, especially during the first year. With so many to choose from, all of which have different seed prices, grow times, and more, it can be daunting to figure out which is the best spring crop to grow.

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Spring is the season the game starts in, and it can be a great time to measure the coming year's productivity. You'll want to start your new game off on the right foot, or, if this isn't your first Spring, come out of Winter and hit the ground running. Here are the Spring crops you should avoid, and those that are definitely worth your time.

Updated on September 28, 2022, by Doruk Kaptan: Stardew Valley is a game with many features and ways to make money, but the most central one feels like farming. Thus, it's important to know what crops are the most profitable and which ones are best avoided.

Spring is a fun season, as it allows farming once again after the barren winter days. There are quite a good amount of options so it's best to be informed going into the season. Here are the worst and best spring crops to grow in Stardew Valley.

Spring Crops To Avoid

These crops are by no means bad, and they have their own uses. Almost all crops turn a profit too, even if we recommend you avoid them. Those listed here are just not as profitable or useful as those we do recommend.

Blue Jazz

Flowers are always a mixed bag to grow in Stardew Valley. While they're aesthetically pleasing and can be used to flavor a variety of honey, they don't have much value on their own. Blue Jazz does have the benefit of a cheap purchase price — only costing 30g — and a small profit of 50g (20g net total). It's also used to cook a Lucky Lunch, which is a really great dish in the game.

However, Blue Jazz is also not used in any bundles or requests, and it doesn't particularly stand out as a special gift for NPCs. It's not exactly a bad crop, but it's not the best spring crop either, so it's perhaps one that's best avoided. Grow a few for making Lucky Lunch, if you'd like, but otherwise, your money is best spent elsewhere.

Tulip

Tulip seeds cost as much as Parsnip seeds, but they grow slower and only sell for 30g, instead of 35g, the base price of Parsnips. Like most other flowers, it's not used in any bundles, nor in any cooking recipe. It is, fortunately, loved by one NPC (Evelyn) and liked by most.

Though not a lot of time or resources are lost by cultivating this crop, Tulips are still best avoided. If you're looking to spruce up the appearance of your farm, though, Tulips are a must-buy.

Unmilled Rice

Unmilled Rice is actually a net negative to a farm's earnings for the Spring, costing 40g but only selling for 30g. It isn't used in any Community Center bundles or cooking recipes, and every NPC universally dislikes it, save for one (Leo) who hates. It does have the benefit of being used in "Help Wanted" requests on occasion. Even then, though, there's very little benefit to this crop.

If you have a Mill, you can use it to process Unmilled Rice into regular Rice, but this too is a universally disliked gift that's not used in any bundles or requests. While regular Rice can be used in three cooking recipes, one of which is used in a Community Center bundle (Maki Roll), it's much easier to just buy it pre-processed from Pierre or JojaMart. Rice, milled or otherwise, is a crop to avoid growing.

Kale

Kale is one of the more middle-of-the-road crops for the Spring season. It has okay profit margins, an okay growth cycle, and an okay price of entry. The one thing that makes Kale feel better is how giftable it is. It's liked by a whopping 29 NPCs, making it one of the better gifts in the game.

Unfortunately, there are better crops for pretty much all things. If you want to diversify your farm, Kale is a safe option for sure. While it's inoffensive, any of the upcoming options are preferable to Kale.

Spring Crops To Grow

Just like how "Avoid" crops are useful in some instances and will usually turn a profit, these crops aren't always the best fit. But, of all the crops available in Spring, these are the most profitable or useful (or both).

Garlic

Garlic is similar to Parsnip. That is to say, it's a cheap crop that sells for little profit with a short growth cycle. The similarities don't end there though, Garlic is a great gift as well, being liked by 26 NPCs. While Garlic is not used for any bundles in the Community Center, it is a decent crop to produce.

It's even used in some recipes that help you with either fishing or looting the mines. While not as flashy as the Ancient Fruit, Garlic is a safe bet for Spring. The only issue is the constant workforce required, as it's a single harvest and has a very short growth cycle.

Parsnip

Parsnips are among the most abundant and cheapest seeds to buy in-game, costing only 20g. They sell for 35g, so aspiring farmers can make a small profit of 15g from cultivating these tubers, especially with their fast growth rates of four days.

It's also a necessary quest item for two Community Center bundles — the Spring Crops and Quality Crops bundles — and makes a decent gift for 28 out of the 33 NPCs of the game. Parsnip is only disliked by five characters, though the occasional "Help Wanted" request can even circumvent this. They are even used in a couple of cooking recipes. Cheap, simple, and versatile, Parsnips are a must to grow in spring. Their only downside is that they're a single-harvest crop that grows quickly, meaning that you'll need to be constantly planting more if you plan to run a Parsnip empire.

Green Bean

A pack of Green Bean seeds is a bit pricey at 60g, but it more than makes up for it by producing a multi-harvest crop. After the initial growth rate, it'll regrow more beans every three days, meaning one seed can generate a decent amount of profit all season, earning roughly 7g per day. It's also used in the Spring Crops Community Center bundle and a cooking recipe with decent mining buffs (Bean Hotpot).

Green Beans are disliked by five villagers, but again, as it is a possible "Help Wanted" request, even this can change. Be sure to grab a seed or two this Spring, and let the profits — or other benefits — roll in!

Cauliflower

Cauliflower seeds are a bit on the pricier side at 80g to purchase and have some of the longest growth times in the game. However, don't let that be a point of discouragement. What the Cauliflower lacks in speedy growth, it makes up for in a profit of 175g (95g net total), yielding some of the highest gains for a Spring crop.

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It's also the last of the crops used in the Spring Crop bundle for the Community Center, and it's used in a cooking recipe (Cheese Cauliflower). As a gift to villagers, it's loved by one NPC (Maru), liked by most, and disliked by five. Its usage in requests can, again, circumvent this dislike. Cauliflower is also one of only three crops that can grow into a Giant Crop.

Potatoes

Though its seeds are somewhat pricier and take a slightly longer time to grow, the Potato more than makes up for its long wait and higher cost with a greater profit. Like the Parsnip, the Potato is used in the Spring Crops Community Center bundle (and sometimes a remixed bundle), as well as one cooking recipe (Hashbrowns). One of the best things about growing Potatoes, though, is that there's a decent chance for multiple drops from one plant, meaning you will sometimes get more than one Potato per seed.

Potatoes also make for another safe, mostly-liked gift for most of the valley's residents, and again, the occasional random "Help Wanted" request can possibly and easily circumvent the few residents who dislike it. The hardy spud is a must for farmers both new and old.

Rhubarb

You won't be able to grab any Rhubarb seeds from Pierre's or Joja, as they're only sold by Sandy at the Desert Oasis. You can unlock access to this shop by fixing the bus, either through the Community Center Vault bundles or the Joja Community Development Form.

Sandy will sell the seeds for 100g, and you can turn those around for a pretty penny, making 120g at minimum per Rhubarb. They aren't the most profitable crop per day of growth, but they make a decent profit that is worth dedicating a small section of your farm.

Strawberry

Strawberry seeds are only available at the Spring Egg Festival and are an expensive purchase at 100g. That said, it's definitely worth stocking up on, as Strawberries are a regrowth plant and yield the highest revenue of all Spring crops, selling for a 120g base price.

The issue is that you have to decide whether to grow it after the Egg Festival and get fewer harvests or save it until next year, plant it at the beginning of the season, and get many more harvests. Under normal circumstances, you can typically get almost twice as many harvests per seed if your Strawberries are planted on Spring 1 than the night of/day after the Egg Festival. Either way, though, they're extremely profitable — so much so that it's often recommended that you save up your Spring earnings in Year 1 to buy the seeds at the Egg Festival.

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Though Strawberries aren't used in any bundle, cooking, or quest in Stardew Valley, the fruit more than makes up for it in its giftability. Two villagers love it (Demetrius and Maru), and almost all others either like it or feel neutral towards it.

Coffee Bean

At first glance, the Coffee Bean may not seem like it's worth it. The biggest issue is availability. You can only get it by chance at the traveling cart, or you can try and farm Dust Sprites for it. Either way, it's luck dependent and not a reliable option. When you do get it in the traveling cart, it's not cheap either, ranging from 100 to 1,000 gold in the standard stock, and 2,500g for the special stock.

Despite all these shortcomings, the Coffee Bean is a great crop to farm. While it takes ten days to grow, it then begins yielding crops every two days. The worst quality beans sell for 550g, too. While it's surely hard to get your hands on, it'll pay for itself in no time and yield a hefty profit. You can also make coffee with these to help with your mining expeditions.

Ancient Fruit

The value of Ancient Fruit can't be understated. These strange fruits sell for truly incredible profits, and they continue producing after each harvest. Additionally, they grow in Spring, Summer, and Fall, meaning you can plant them on Sprint 1 and continue harvesting from the same plants for three whole seasons.

The only downside to Ancient Fruit is that it can be hard to get your hands on the seeds. The typical method is to donate the Ancient Seed artifact to the Museum. Gunther will then give you the crafting recipe to turn the artifacts into the seeds, as well as a seed packet to start growing the fruit. You can also, very rarely, find Ancient Seeds at the Traveling Cart or by placing other crops into a Seed Maker.

However, once you've found some of the seeds and you start growing Ancient Fruit, you'll be rich in no time.

Next: Stardew Valley: Complete Guide And Walkthrough