The Market Note
The season as it turns, seen from the market floor
How the growing regions are faring and why, what is coming into season and what is leaving it, and how we would buy around both. Free to read here, and in your inbox every Monday morning.
Week45
This week
Spanish lemons up a fifth, oranges lighter
Spain's summer heat thinned the orange and clementine crop, lemons are up a fifth, and in Almería red peppers nearly doubled in a week.
In season now
- English apples & pears (Bramley, Cox, Conference)
- Spanish lemons
- Clementines & satsumas
- Brussels sprouts & sprout tops
- Savoy cabbage, kale & cavolo nero
- Celeriac, parsnips & Jerusalem artichokes
Back issues
Every earlier note, newest first
October 2026
Peppers go Spanish — but no cheaper
Dutch glasshouse season closes, Spain's peppers open near last winter's highs, and Britain faces its smallest potato crop on record — what to buy instead.
Pear glut: smaller sizes are the value buy
Europe's pear growers are sitting on surplus, Peru's blueberry crop is tightening again, and Britain's first frosts are sweetening the brassicas.
Tomatoes ease; British apples firm up
Glasshouse tomatoes ease as Dutch and Belgian volumes recover — but the EU's smallest apple crop in nine years makes British apples the firm buy.
Persimmons short; satsumas land sweet
Spain's kaki crop is down up to a quarter after August hail; book it early. New-season citrus opens calm, and home-grown greens and squash are the value.
September 2026
Home-grown apples & roots are the value now
Britain grows just 56% of its veg and 14% of its fruit (DEFRA) — so as salad veg turns Spanish, home-grown apples, pears, squash and roots are the buy.
Citrus season opens as UK summer veg ends
Italian lemons and the first clementines are landing as Britain's summer veg bows out — and Spain's new citrus crop opens 4% below its five-year average.
Broccoli yields halve — buy pears & squash
British broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage are up to 50% short after the drought — while pears, squash and new-season roots are plentiful and good value.
Grapes hold strong, English apples build, and autumn squash reaches peak
Grapes hold quality, English apples build variety, and autumn squash comes in full range this week.
A standout grape year, the first English apples land — and wild mushrooms are in
Europe's grape crop is landing at real quality, the English orchard season opens near its five-year average, and girolles and ceps are back in the woods.
August 2026
Salad and spuds spike on drought — figs and peaches are the value buy
IGD has iceberg wholesale up about 90% and potatoes 40% as the drought bill lands — while a big European stone-fruit year and Turkish figs come in at value.
English apples land — and only 14% of Britain's fruit is home-grown
The English orchard window opens now, a record-dry July squeezes brassicas, and the Kentish cobnut most kitchens miss.
Almería clocks off, UK tomatoes peak — girolles are here
The annual Spanish greenhouse gap, what it means for summer supply, and the wild mushroom most chefs walk past this month.
Greengages and the first figs land as a heat dome grips the south
What's peaking at home, what 40°C is doing to southern supply, and why to plan your autumn peppers now.
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