Scenes From a Midsummer Greenmarket

Tiny, sweet sugar plums from Tree-Licious Orchard out of Port Murray, New Jersey.

Because of our unusually hot spring, most produce is arriving early this summer. That means that the last of the cherries is now overlapping with the very first tomatoes and corn -- and it means that today is a very good day to get thee to the Union Square Greenmarket, where stone fruit, berries, eggplant, squash, corn, greens, and even South Jersey tomatoes are just waiting to be grabbed up.

Right this way for a virtual tour.

Red Jacket Orchards from the Finger Lakes offers piles of fuzzy orange apricots for $4 a pound.

You could play checkers on Samascott Orchard's cherry display: They've got Golden, Queen Ann, Bing, and sour cherries, but the farmer there says that the fruits will only be available for another week or so.

Tree-Licious Orchards from Port Murray, New Jersey, has these nectarines as well as sugar plums for $3.50 a pound.