After a couple of months of largely rotating through the same winter fruit and veg (but trying my best to include something special or different where possible!) it’s finally come to that time of the year where things will slowly start to change…
Over the next few months we’ll be seeing the return of some welcome friends. Cherry tomatoes are just around the corner – with truss tomatoes finishing late the tomato gap has been short this year – and asparagus won’t be far behind, although sadly we won’t have the same flood of asparagus as previous years with Premium Fresh taking a year off their asparagus harvest. Apples and pears, which have been in storage for several months now, will come to an end – pears usually go first as they tend to not store quite as well – and strawberries will start to appear in boxes from November, followed about a month later by raspberries and cherries. Brown onions and leeks will be supplanted by fresh garlic and spring onions, last season’s potatoes will be replaced by new season’s pink eyes – although not so many at first as the market always pushes the prices up at the beginning of the season. Rhubarb, no fan of frosts, forms a spring bridge between winter fruit and summer berries, whilst Southern Fields’ delicious fresh winter caulis will be dug out to swap for iceberg lettuce, less susceptible to cabbage moth as the weather warms. Capsicum and eggplant won’t be too far off either, and with any luck we might even have some Christmas peas!