Ken: There is no date certain for tart cherry ripening, but in Northern Virginia you can usually begin picking by mid-June. As you have noticed, they do not all ripen at the same time. Those with more sun exposure will ripen first and are usually a little larger. On Northstar, we usually began picking a little before mid-June, since this variety ripens slightly before the Meteor and Montmorency varieties. Now my Northstar trees are gone, victims of bacterial disease, and I have one old Meteor (30 years) about to check out, and a 5-year youngster that is beginning to produce nicely. It takes only one really good tart cherry tree to freeze 15 quarts or so. We usually harvest cherries in about 3 pickings, choosing those cherries that are the darkest in color and come off the stems easily. The rest will ripen up in the following week to 10 days. If you are still in doubt, simply taste them. They will always be tart, but Northstar will accumulate quite a few sugars, as evidenced by the stickiness on the table when you run them through the pitter. When we freeze our cherries, 1/2 cup of sugar goes into each quart ziplock bag. That seems to work out fine, as the sugar helps preserve the cherries as well as sweetening them. Evacuate as much air from the bag as you can to prevent browning in long-term freezer storage. Don Yellman, Great Falls, VA

I eat mine just after they fall the the ground. I'f I'm anxious, I give the bush a shake to get them to drop. The husk is dried golden and the cherry is greenish-golden.

Thanks for your replies. I got my order Monday afternoon. I was out in the yard and was going to get started planting potatoes when the UPS truck pulled in my driveway with my Stark Brother's order. You'd think, since I ordered a month ago that I would have a spot in mind to actually PLANT my new cherry tree and other stuff but I didn't. So I circled my yard a few times, shovel in hand, turning in cirles and staring up at the trees, walking back and forth counting paces a few times. If I carry a shovel, that makes me look less crazy to the neighbors right? The plants they sent me were bigger than I expected them to be. I spent a good part of the day yesterday digging holes for the Balaton Cherry and for a Jupiter grape. Sure seemed hard to dig. I think my arms are weak from lack of use over winter. I was exhausted yesterday evening. I read that Balaton has a tendency to form narrow crotch angles will need some training and pruning of course. I've been reading about different methods to help the branches spread out to wider angles but I think I won't have to do that until next year. Will I need to spray it this year for anything or should I just wait to see what happens?

I use compost as a mulch. To retain some water in a downpour, and to hopefully reduce wilts and blights. One year we got two or three inches of rain in a day. Two to three hundred yellow cherry tomatoes split on just on plant! When a plant seems to be reaching peak production, I cut back the watering, then pick the tomatoes two to four days later. Then back to the regular watering schedule of twice a week. I try to convince some of the other tomato-growing neighbors that you don't have to (and should not) water once a day. They may not trim the bottoms of the plants, and use compost tea, but they love to water daily!