The blueberries are ripening at Lavender Backyard Garden, near Hamilton, a tasty sign that summer is almost here.
In a few weeks, the pick-your-own orchard should be open to the public.
"We're looking for more sunshine", manager Samantha Wong said. "If there's no sunshine it means the whole season can be ruined again."
The orchard couldn't open at all last year, after an October frost damaged it and others across Waikato.
But forecasters say it's going to be a long and dry summer for those in northern and eastern parts of the country.
"We would see a little more settled weather around the northern areas," Metservice's Lewis Ferris said. "It's the South Island where we'll see those westerly winds bringing rain into the West Coast and there could be some of those scorching hot days along the Canterbury coast."
That's good news for Matthew Rout, a dairy farmer near Paeroa, who said the wet conditions this year have been tough.
"We've noticed in the spring time that we just haven't had the growth that we would normally get, so, you know, we're a bit down on production, we're down on silage as well."
A reprieve, though, might be a few week away.
"December is kind of almost a bit of a cop out when it comes to summer weather," Ferris said. "There will be some settled weather but don't think we're not going to get at least some rain or some cold temperatures coming in."
While the blueberries orchards at Lavender Backyard Garden is set to get back in action, the team there isn't too excited yet.
"Supply to the market — the volume will be enough, it will be pretty good," Wong said. "We never say it's the best, because you never know what the weather will do to our field."
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