Very dry and sunny spring results in glut of fruit and vegetables

Britain is experiencing a glut of early strawberries, aubergines and tomatoes, with dry, warm weather eliminating the traditional "hungry gap", according to growers.

- Helena Horton

It has been a very dry and sunny spring, with one of the warmest starts to May on record expected.

Nick Haigh, a grower at the Community Farm south of Bristol, said many Mediterranean vegetables had come weeks earlier than expected: "It feels like it's the middle of May already. We have loads and loads of crops right now, tomatoes, aubergines, cucumbers, peppers, they are all ready two or three weeks early. We are crazy busy already."

Usually this time of year is known as the "hungry gap", when winter vegetables have run out and we wait for the summer crops to arrive. However, the sunny, dry weather has eliminated this, he said.