A well-established Fitchburg u-pick built around a week-by-week lineup of early apples, though no 2026 season dates have been posted yet.
Eplegaarden is a long-running u-pick just off Fitchburg Road, a few minutes south of Madison, built around six named varieties that all lean early rather than late in the season. There’s no confirmed 2026 opening date in the record, but the variety list itself tells you when to go: this is a farm for September, not a late-October Fuji run.
The six varieties on file — Zestar, Paula Red, RubyMac, Akane, Sansa, and Wealthy — don’t all ripen at once. Zestar and Paula Red are classic early-season apples, tart and crisp, often ready before Labor Day in a typical Wisconsin year. Akane and Sansa follow close behind, and Wealthy and RubyMac round things out into what’s usually called the midseason window. The practical effect is that what’s actually pickable on a given weekend shifts week to week, which is worth knowing if you’re driving any distance for a specific apple. If you’re chasing Honeycrisp, Fuji, Pink Lady, or anything else that ripens in October, none of those show up in this record — Eplegaarden’s strength here is the early window.
The posted hours split sharply by day: Monday through Thursday, just 9am to 1pm, and Friday through Sunday, a much fuller 9am to 5pm. That four-hour weekday window is short enough that it’s worth building a trip around rather than assuming you can swing by after lunch. If your schedule is flexible, a weekday morning inside that window is likely to be a calmer visit than a Saturday afternoon, simply because the farm itself is open fewer hours to spread out demand — though the record doesn’t state crowd levels directly, so treat that as reasoning from the schedule rather than a confirmed fact.
Cider donuts are confirmed at Eplegaarden, a reliable draw at this point in most Wisconsin orchard visits. The record doesn’t say whether there’s a full on-site cider mill pressing fresh cider, so don’t assume that’s part of the visit — donuts are the one confirmed sweet extra. For families, a pumpkin patch is listed among the on-site activities, which makes Eplegaarden a reasonable one-stop trip in September and October rather than a pure apple-only destination.
There’s a real gap here worth naming plainly: no season-start or season-end date, no pricing information (per-bag, per-pound, or admission), and no note on whether pre-picked bags are available alongside u-pick. The source for this record is Eplegaarden’s own site, read September 2, 2026, and it simply didn’t carry a dated 2026 season announcement on the pages that were checked. That’s common enough for farms that update their season page closer to opening, but it means anyone planning a trip should call ahead — 608-845-5966 — or check eplegaarden.com directly before driving out, rather than assuming last year’s dates still apply.
Eplegaarden sits at 2227 Fitchburg Road in Fitchburg, just south of Madison in Dane County. The coordinates on file reflect Fitchburg’s city center rather than a geocoded address, so navigate by the street address itself rather than a pin on a map. It’s part of the same Madison Area cluster as Sutter’s Ridge Apple Orchard in Mount Horeb and The Appleberry Farm in Cross Plains, both a short enough drive away that a single fall day could realistically take in more than one stop.
Eplegaarden is a solid early-season pick for the Madison area — six named varieties, confirmed cider donuts, and a pumpkin patch for the kids — but it’s light on the specifics that matter most for trip planning. No confirmed 2026 dates, no pricing, and hours that shrink dramatically on weekdays mean a phone call before you go is the smart move, not an afterthought.
Not stated with specific 2026 dates in the record. The six named varieties — Zestar, Paula Red, RubyMac, Akane, Sansa, and Wealthy — are all early-to-midseason apples, so this is a farm for the first weeks of the season rather than a late-October trip.
You're hoping for late-season apples like Honeycrisp, Fuji, or Pink Lady — none of the six varieties named in the record fall into that late-ripening group.
Eplegaarden shares the Madison Area region with Sutter's Ridge Apple Orchard in Mount Horeb and The Appleberry Farm in Cross Plains, both covered in this same research batch — a reasonable basis for a multi-stop day for anyone touring the area.
Six are named in the record: Zestar, Paula Red, RubyMac, Akane, Sansa, and Wealthy. All are early-to-midseason varieties that tend to ripen in succession rather than all at once, which is why the farm describes a rolling lineup rather than one big opening week.
Monday through Thursday, 9am-1pm — a notably short window — and Friday through Sunday, 9am-5pm. A weekday visit has to fit inside that narrow midday slot.
Yes, cider donuts are confirmed in the record. Whether there's an on-site cider mill isn't stated either way.
A pumpkin patch is listed as an on-site activity, so a fall visit can combine both in one stop.
Not stated in the record. Call 608-845-5966 or check eplegaarden.com before planning a trip, especially in the first weeks of the season when ripening is variety-by-variety.
2026 dates had not been published when we last checked. In past seasons it has run: Daily (shorter hours Mon-Thu). Check with the orchard before driving out.
Pricing was not published when we last checked.
Yes — it's a pick-your-own orchard.
Zestar, Paula Red, RubyMac, Akane, Sansa, Wealthy — note that what's actually ready to pick changes week to week through the season.
2227 Fitchburg Road, Fitchburg, WI 53575, in Dane County. It is one of 3 orchards we track in Madison Area.
We track 3 orchards in Madison Area, 3 of which let you pick your own apples. The orchard has not published a starting price, so it cannot be compared on cost — call before you budget.
One caveat worth repeating: this orchard had not published its 2026 dates when we last checked, while 1 of the 3 orchards we track in Madison Area had. Treat any date you see elsewhere as last year's until the orchard confirms it.
There are 2 other orchards we track in Dane County. All Madison Area orchards →
Map pin is set to the town centre. Navigate to the street address above, not the pin.
eplegaarden.com
Checked September 2026.