The relatively dry months of July and August are to blame for small berries on the vines of early varieties of cranberries, but growers expect to have a good season overall.

"I would say we're looking at a pretty good crop, similar to last year's," said Carolyn DeMoranville, station director of the UMass Cranberry Station in East Wareham.

Last year, the Massachusetts harvest totaled 2.12 million barrels, which was 8% less than in 2011 — a record-breaking year for the crop.

Still, it was one of the better years. To give you an idea at how many little berries that is: Each barrel weighs 100 pounds. Wow!

Growers began harvesting the early berries in the second week of September. The peak of the harvest is around Columbus Day in October — the weekend of which the A.D. Makepeace Company hosts the Cranberry Harvest Celebration with the Cape Cod Cranberry Growers' Association and Ocean Spray. The harvest wraps up in the first week of November.

"The wet spring is less of an issue for growers because they're able to manage the water," which they store in reservoirs, DeMoranville explained.

However, the soggy weather did contribute to fruit rot caused by fungus, DeMoranville noted, but it wasn't a major blow to the crop.

"For the most part, the management took care of the problems," she said.

When the weather is dry in the second half of the season, when the fruit is on the plant, the berries suffer a bit.

"Growers irrigate to make up for that, but somehow it seems when you don't get that natural rainfall, it's not quite the same. … It's that kind of balance between nice sunny days and the occasional rainfall" that is ideal, DeMoranville explained.

But things are going well, despite the less-than-perfect end of summer.

"It seems like so far, the harvest is going smoothly," DeMoranville noted. "The color on the berries is coming along nicely."

Cranberries start off green, then turn white. White berries are mature and can be harvested and used for things such as white cranberry juice. It is the cool nights in the fall that give the berries their characteristic deep red color, said DeMoranville.

Though this year's crop will likely not be record-breaking for most growers, Wareham's A.D. Makepeace Company — the world's largest cranberry grower and supplier of Ocean Spray — is on track to hit a milestone.

Glenn Reid, A.D. Makepeace assistant manager of cranberry operations, says the company could harvest 400,000 barrels this year. Last year, the company harvested 335,000 barrels.

But it's important, Reid says, not to count your chickens before they hatch. Or your berries before they're picked?

Want to see the cranberry harvest in action? The 10th annual Cranberry Harvest Celebration will be held in Tihonet Village, 158 Tihonet Road, on October 12 and 13 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. General admission is $10, $5 for seniors, and free for children younger than age 7. For more information, visit www.cranberries.org.