UK apple season is now underway. New season UK Bramley is underway followed by French cooking apples later in the season. UK large red apples are currently Cox apple from Mark Eastwood in Kent, Mark will then move to Braeburn taking us into the new year.

UK heritage tomatoes quality is good albeit these will slow over the next month before moving to Mediterranean supply for the winter.

UK fancy leaf, cos, gems & iceberg are all good quality considering the issues they’ve faced. Iceberg can be prone to pinking if there is too much rain.

Growing conditions are much improved of late. Currently short supply of UK due to the gap in planting when we hit 40ºC+ in July. Market price has already doubled, and we are importing French grown to make up any shortfalls. We have put programs in place for winter using mainly French this year due to ongoing lack of planting in the UK as farmers opt for less risky crops.

Broccoli – UK should run until the end of October. A small gap in supply is foreseen in a few weeks’ time, due to the weather and lack of planting in England in July. Supply moved from Lincolnshire to Scotland to ensure quality and availability until Spanish starts in November.

White & red cabbage - Both suffered from the dry conditions as this happened at the optimum time for growth. Unlike leafy cabbage this is a single crop which bulks up from July to September and is then harvested into cold stores for supply over the winter period and the following spring. Due to the lack of rain the crop is significantly reduced in head size this coming year and a reduced specification is in place. Recent rainfall has improved the forecast with the average head size now expected to be in excess of 600g.