Wild Thyme Norwichplant-based eating guide

UK seasonal calendar

What's in Season UK: Fruit and Vegetables by Month, with Norfolk Notes

What fruit is in season UK-wide this month, which vegetables are at their peak, and when the hedgerows and herb beds come good: a twelve-month calendar of British-grown produce.

On this page10 sections
  1. What’s in season UK-wide: how to read the calendar by month
  2. Winter: December to February
  3. Spring and the hungry gap: March to May
  4. Summer fruit and vegetables: June to August
  5. Autumn: September to November
  6. Herbs and wild food through the year
  7. Planning meals from the calendar
  8. Fresh crops and storage crops
  9. Norfolk notes: asparagus and samphire
  10. Cooking from the calendar in Norwich
Ink drawing of twelve seed packets on a shelf, each showing a different British crop

Choose a month

In season in October: 60 UK crops

Vegetables

  • AubergineRoast, grill or fry in slices; used in curries, ratatouille, baba ganoush and baked layered dishes.
  • BeetrootRoast whole, boil, or grate raw into salads; also pickled and blended into soups such as borscht.
  • Broccoli (calabrese)Cut into florets and steam, stir-fry or roast; the peeled stalk can be sliced and cooked too.
  • Brussels sproutsTrim and halve, then roast, steam or shred finely and stir-fry with chestnuts or garlic.
  • CabbageShred for slaw, braise red cabbage with apple, or steam and toss green leaves with butter or oil.
  • CarrotsEaten raw in salads and slaws, roasted, glazed, or added to stews, soups and cakes.
  • CauliflowerRoast florets with spices, steam, blend into soup, or bake in a sauce as cauliflower cheese.
  • CeleriacPeel thickly, then mash, roast in chunks, or cut into thin matchsticks for remoulade.
  • CeleryUsed raw for crunch in salads, or chopped with onion and carrot as a base for soups and stews.
  • Swiss chardCook stalks a few minutes before the leaves; wilt into pasta, gratins, pies or stews.
  • ChicorySeparate the leaves for salads, or halve the heads and braise or grill to soften their bitterness.
  • CourgettesSlice and fry, grill or roast; grate raw into salads, fritters or cakes.
  • CucumberMostly eaten raw in salads, sandwiches and raita; also quick-pickled or blended into chilled soups.
  • FennelShave raw into salads, or cut into wedges and roast or braise until soft and sweet.
  • Globe artichokeBoil or steam whole and pull off the leaves to dip, or trim to the heart for pasta.
  • KaleStrip leaves from the stems, then wilt, stir-fry, add to soups and stews, or bake into crisps.
  • KohlrabiPeel and eat the bulb raw in slaws, or cut into chunks and roast or add to stir-fries.
  • LeeksWash well between layers, then sweat gently for soups, pies and gratins, or grill halved leeks whole.
  • LettuceMostly eaten raw in salads and sandwiches; Little Gem halves can be briefly grilled or braised.
  • MarrowStuff halves and bake, cut into chunks for curries and stews, or cook down into chutney.
  • Potatoes (maincrop)Floury maincrop potatoes are used for mash, roasting, baking in their jackets and chips.
  • OnionsA base for most savoury cooking: soften for sauces and stews, caramelise, roast or slice raw.
  • Pak choiHalve or quarter and stir-fry, steam or add to noodle soups; the stems need slightly longer than leaves.
  • ParsnipsRoast in chunks, mash with other roots, or blend into spiced soups; also used in cakes.
  • PeasPod and cook briefly, or eat raw when very fresh; used in risottos, soups, pasta and salads.
  • PeppersEaten raw in salads, roasted, stuffed and baked, or sliced into stir-fries, fajitas and stews.
  • PumpkinRoast in wedges, blend into soup, or purée for pies, risottos and pasta fillings.
  • Winter squash (incl. butternut)Peel or leave skin on, then roast, mash, blend into soups or use in curries and risotto.
  • RadicchioUse raw in salads for a bitter note, or quarter and grill, roast or stir through risotto.
  • RadishesUsually eaten raw, sliced into salads or dipped in salt; also good roasted or quick-pickled.
  • RocketEaten raw as a peppery salad leaf, scattered over pizza, or blended into pesto.
  • Runner beansString the edges, slice diagonally and boil or steam briefly; also used in chutneys.
  • SalsifyPeel, drop into acidulated water, then boil, sauté or roast; used in gratins and soups.
  • SpinachYoung leaves eaten raw in salads; larger leaves wilted into curries, pasta, pies and dals.
  • Spring onionsSlice raw into salads and dips, add to stir-fries, or grill whole as a side.
  • SwedePeel and boil, then mash with butter and pepper, or roast in chunks and add to stews and pasties.
  • SweetcornBoil or grill the cobs, or cut the kernels off for salads, fritters, chowders and salsas.
  • TomatoesEaten raw in salads, roasted, or cooked down into sauces, soups and chutneys.
  • TurnipsSmall turnips can be eaten raw or glazed; larger ones are roasted, mashed or added to stews.
  • WatercressUsed raw as a peppery salad leaf or in sandwiches, or blended into soup.

Fruit

  • ApplesEaten raw, baked, stewed or puréed; used in crumbles, pies, chutneys, juice and cider.
  • PearsEaten raw when ripe, poached in wine or syrup, baked in tarts, or sliced into salads.
  • PlumsEaten raw, roasted, stewed, or baked in crumbles and cakes; also made into jam.
  • DamsonsToo sharp to eat raw for most; cooked into jam, jelly, chutney and crumbles, or steeped in gin.
  • RaspberriesEaten raw, folded into desserts, baked in cakes, or cooked into jam and coulis.
  • QuinceToo hard to eat raw; slow-cooked until pink, made into membrillo paste, jelly, or poached.
  • MedlarsLeft to soften (blet) until brown, then scooped out raw or cooked into medlar jelly.

Herbs

  • ThymeStrip leaves from woody stems into stews, roasts, soups and marinades, or add whole sprigs while cooking.
  • ChivesSnip finely over eggs, potatoes, soups and dips; the purple flowers are also edible.
  • CorianderChop leaves and stalks into curries, salsas, salads and noodle dishes; add towards the end.
  • ParsleyChop into salads such as tabbouleh, sauces such as salsa verde, or scatter over cooked dishes.
  • SageFry leaves in butter or oil for pasta and gnocchi, or add to stuffings and squash dishes.

Nuts

  • Sweet chestnutsScore the shells, then roast or boil and peel; used in stuffings, soups, sprouts and purée.
  • Cobnuts and hazelnutsCrack and eat fresh, or toast and chop into salads, granola, baking and nut butters.
  • WalnutsCrack and eat raw, or toast for salads, breads, cakes and sauces; green walnuts are pickled.

Wild and foraged

  • ElderberriesCooked before eating, never raw; made into syrup, jelly, jam, or added to crumbles.
  • BlackberriesEaten raw, or cooked in crumbles and apple pies, and made into jam, jelly and cordial.
  • SloesVery astringent raw; usually steeped with sugar in gin or vodka, or cooked into jelly.
  • RosehipsThe seeds and hairs inside are irritants, so hips are cooked and strained to make syrup or jelly.
  • Wild mushroomsOnly eat mushrooms identified with certainty by an expert. Usually sautéed, added to risotto, pasta or toast.

In January the first pink stalks of forced rhubarb reach the shops, grown in the dark in forcing sheds and brighter than anything else a British greengrocer sells all winter. They are a useful way into the calendar above, because they show how much of the UK season is shaped by people rather than weather alone. What fruit is in season UK-wide in the depths of winter is a short list, and most of it has been grown, stored or coaxed along with some care.

The calendar covers 93 fruits, vegetables, herbs, nuts and wild foods. Each one shows the months when it is grown or gathered in the UK, and a handful carry a note about Norfolk. The rest of this page walks through the year season by season and explains how to get the most from it.

What’s in season UK-wide: how to read the calendar by month

Each row is one crop, and the filled months are its main UK season. A month left empty does not mean the item is unavailable in the shops; it means any found there will usually be imported or grown under heavy protection out of season. The calendar is a guide to British produce at its natural peak, not a list of what a supermarket stocks.

You can filter by kind, so anyone looking for fruits in season by month UK-wide can switch to fruit alone, and anyone planning a meal can scan a single column to see everything that is ready at once. Wild foods sit in their own group because they are gathered rather than farmed. Herbs are included too, since a pot of rosemary or a row of parsley follows the same seasonal rhythm as the vegetable patch.

Two habits make it more useful. Look a month ahead as well as at the current one, because the first and last weeks of a season are often patchy. And treat the months as a range rather than a promise: a warm spring brings strawberries forward, and a wet autumn can end the plums early.

Winter: December to February

The vegetables in season UK-wide in winter are tough, slow-growing plants that stand in the ground through frost or keep well in store. Leeks, parsnips, swede, celeriac, Jerusalem artichokes, kale, Brussels sprouts, cabbage and cauliflower carry the season, with radicchio and chicory adding bitter leaves for salads. Salsify, an old-fashioned root that tastes faintly of artichoke, appears in specialist shops from October to February.

Frost is often said to make parsnips sweeter, because cold turns some of their starch to sugar, and many growers prefer to leave them in the ground until after the first hard frosts. Brussels sprouts behave in a similar way. This is why roast parsnips and sprouts feel like December food: they are better then.

Winter fruit is mostly stored. Apples are picked from late summer to autumn, and the months they fill in the calendar after November are British apples kept in cold store; Bramley apples, the classic cooking variety, run on into March. Pears follow a similar pattern into January. Walnuts and sweet chestnuts from the autumn harvest keep well into the new year.

Forced rhubarb is the one genuinely fresh crop of the season. The best-known comes from the Rhubarb Triangle in West Yorkshire, between Wakefield, Morley and Rothwell, where Yorkshire Forced Rhubarb holds protected name status. Roots spend two years or more growing outdoors, are left to feel the cold, then are moved into dark, heated sheds, where they send up pale, tender stalks in a few weeks. The calendar shows forced rhubarb in January and February, before the outdoor crop takes over. The RHS explains how to force a crown under a bucket or a terracotta forcer at home on its rhubarb growing page.

Rhubarb leaves are not eaten. Trim them off and use only the stalks.

Spring and the hungry gap: March to May

Spring sounds like the season of plenty, but in the vegetable garden it is the leanest stretch of the year.

The hungry gap is the traditional name for the weeks, roughly from April to early June, when the stored winter crops have run out and the new season’s sowings are not yet ready to pick. The calendar shows it clearly: April has fewer entries than any other month. Leeks, parsnips and celeriac all end in March, while broad beans, courgettes and most summer fruit do not start until June. Growers have always planned around this gap by keeping a few hardy crops going, and those crops are what spring eating is built on: purple sprouting broccoli from February to April, spring greens from March, the last of the kale, and outdoor rhubarb from March into early summer.

Several leaves arrive with the warmer weather. Watercress, spinach and sorrel start in March, rocket and radishes in April, and spring onions are available most of the year. Wild food helps too: wild garlic carpets damp woodland from late winter, and young nettle tops are at their best in February and March, before they toughen. Pick nettles with gloves; cooking removes the sting.

Then, towards the end of April, the season turns. Asparagus begins, new potatoes appear, and by May the first gooseberries and strawberries are ready. Elderflower opens in May and June, and peas, lettuce, pak choi and early herbs such as chives, dill and parsley fill out the beds. It is the shortest of the seasonal shifts and one of the most noticeable.

Summer fruit and vegetables: June to August

Summer is when the UK calendar fills up, and the hardest part is choosing. Strawberries run from May to September, raspberries from June into October, and June, July and August bring cherries, blackcurrants, redcurrants and gooseberries all at once. Blueberries and loganberries are July and August fruit, and greengages ripen from July to September. Anyone asking what fruit is in season UK-wide in high summer will get a longer answer than at any other time of year.

The vegetables keep pace. Broad beans start in June, followed by courgettes, runner beans, fennel, tomatoes, garlic and mangetout; French beans, cucumbers, kohlrabi and marrows follow in July. Sweetcorn begins in August, as do the first leeks of the new season. Globe artichokes, peppers and aubergines also appear in the calendar for these months, because the sources record a UK-grown crop, though British peppers and aubergines come mostly from glasshouses rather than open fields.

Summer herbs are at their peak. Basil, tarragon and oregano have short outdoor seasons, while mint, chervil, parsley and chives carry on for longer. Thyme is available all year round, but it flowers in summer and the leaves are at their most aromatic just before then.

New potatoes run from April to July and are then replaced by maincrop potatoes, which carry on through the autumn and into store. The difference is more than size. New potatoes are lifted young, with thin skins and a waxy texture, and are best eaten within days; maincrop varieties are left to mature and develop the thicker skins that let them keep for months.

Autumn: September to November

Autumn is the harvest proper, and also the season of the hedgerow. Apples and pears dominate from September, and plums and damsons run from August to October. Quince ripens in October, too hard to eat raw and best slow-cooked until it turns pink. Medlars come in October and November. As an aside, medlars are one of the few fruits deliberately left to start rotting before they are eaten: the process, called bletting, softens the flesh to a brown paste that tastes of baked apple and dates, and it puzzles anyone meeting the fruit for the first time.

Hedgerows supply much of the season’s fruit. Blackberries run from July to October, elderberries from August, sloes from September, and rosehips in September and October. Elderberries must be cooked before eating, and rosehips must be strained, because the hairs around their seeds are an irritant. Cobnuts and hazelnuts are ready from August, sweet chestnuts from September, and walnuts from October.

The vegetable side of autumn is a handover. Summer crops such as tomatoes, courgettes, runner beans, sweetcorn and peppers carry on into October, while pumpkins and winter squash arrive in September, and the winter roots and brassicas start returning: kale and Brussels sprouts from September, swede and celeriac from October, Jerusalem artichokes from November. September and October are the two fullest columns in the calendar, because the last of summer overlaps with the start of winter.

Wild mushrooms are listed for September to November, but only for completeness. Never eat a wild mushroom unless it has been identified with certainty by someone with expert knowledge, because several deadly British species resemble edible ones.

Herbs and wild food through the year

Herbs have seasons too, though a pot on a windowsill blurs them. Thyme and rosemary are evergreen and can be picked lightly in any month, which is why the calendar shows thyme all year. Soft herbs are different: basil wants warmth and lasts only from June to August outdoors, dill is at its best in May and June, and coriander, parsley and chives run from late spring into autumn. Sorrel, with its sharp lemony leaves, starts in March and is one of the first fresh flavours of the year. Sage peaks from July to October, just in time for squash.

Wild food follows the hedgerow. Wild garlic and nettles open the year, elderflower marks early summer, and blackberries, elderberries, sloes and rosehips carry the autumn. Gathering any of them comes with a few rules. Pick only where there is plenty, leave most of each plant for wildlife, and never dig up a wild plant: uprooting one without the landowner’s permission is an offence under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981. Many of the best sites in Norfolk are nature reserves where picking is not allowed at all, so check before gathering anything. The wild thyme section covers the herb that gives this guide its name, which grows wild on Norfolk’s heaths but is far better bought as a plant than picked.

Planning meals from the calendar

The simplest use of the calendar is a weekly shop. Pick the current column, choose two or three crops at their peak, and build meals around them rather than around a recipe that needs something out of season. Anyone who prefers lists can read the fruits in season by month UK-wide by filtering the calendar to fruit, then scanning across a row to see how long each one lasts.

A calendar also makes a good teaching tool for children, who tend to remember that strawberries belong to June far better than any list of vitamins, and a single row followed through the year shows how a crop arrives, peaks and fades.

It also helps with preserving. Jam, chutney and pickles are best made at the peak of a crop, when it is cheapest and most plentiful: blackcurrants in July, plums and damsons in September, quince in October. Knowing what’s in season UK-wide a few weeks ahead gives time to collect jars and plan a free afternoon.

Fresh crops and storage crops

The calendar mixes two kinds of produce, and knowing which is which changes how you shop. Fresh crops, such as asparagus, strawberries, peas and salad leaves, are eaten within days of picking and have short, sharp seasons. Storage crops, such as maincrop potatoes, onions, apples, pumpkins, winter squash and Bramleys, are harvested in a few weeks and then eaten over months.

That is why some rows look surprisingly long. Onions are harvested in summer and kept dry until the following winter. Squash and pumpkins are cured in the sun after picking, which hardens their skins, and a sound squash kept somewhere cool and dry can last into the new year. Apples go into controlled cold stores that slow their ripening. None of this is a trick; it is how British households and growers have always eaten through the winter.

Freezing is the other way to stretch a season. Soft fruit, peas, broad beans and blanched greens all freeze well, and a bag of British raspberries opened in February keeps a little of July going in the middle of winter.

At home, the rules are simple. Keep potatoes and onions apart, in a cool, dark, airy place. Store squash at room temperature somewhere dry, not in the fridge. And use soft fruit, salad leaves and fresh herbs quickly, since they are the items that lose the most flavour with every day off the plant.

Norfolk notes: asparagus and samphire

Two crops in the calendar carry notes about Norfolk, and both have a strong local tradition.

Asparagus is grown on the sandy soils of the Norfolk Brecks, where the traditional cutting season runs from St George’s Day, 23 April, to Midsummer’s Day, 21 June. After that the spears are left to grow into tall ferns, which feed the crowns for the following year. The RHS gives the same advice to home growers on its asparagus page: stop cutting by midsummer so the plants can recover. Norfolk asparagus is at its best within a day of cutting, which is the argument for buying it locally rather than from a supermarket shelf.

Samphire is gathered on the north Norfolk saltmarshes, around Thornham, Brancaster, Stiffkey and Blakeney, usually from June into early August; the calendar shows its core months of July and August. Marsh samphire is a succulent, salty plant that needs only a quick rinse and a minute or two of steaming. Many of the saltmarshes are protected, so buying from a fishmonger or a stall is the responsible way to try it.

Cooking from the calendar in Norwich

Seasonal eating in a city mostly comes down to two places: the market and the kitchens that cook to the season. Norwich Market’s fruit and vegetable stalls follow the calendar more closely than a supermarket shelf, and a walk past them in any month is a quick visual check of what’s in season UK growers are sending to market. River Green in Trowse, a fully plant-based restaurant, builds its daily changing menu on seasonal, often local produce; the homepage lists it alongside every other checked venue, and the vegan dinner guide covers the evening options in more detail.

The calendar is also a good companion to the journal, which picks up a crop or two each fortnight as it arrives or ends, and to the brunch guide, since asparagus on toast in May and mushrooms with thyme in October are among the simplest seasonal breakfasts there are. Thyme itself is in season all year, and the guide to growing thyme from seed shows how to keep a pot going on a windowsill so that a sprig is always to hand.

For anyone planning further ahead, the most useful habit is to look at what’s in season UK-wide two months from now rather than today, because that is when the sowing, the booking and the jam-jar collecting need to start. BBC Good Food keeps its own seasonal calendar with recipes for each ingredient, which is a useful second opinion when a month looks thin. And if you want the vegetables in season UK growers lift last, before the hungry gap, choose leeks, parsnips and celeriac in March: after that, they disappear from the calendar until the autumn.

Questions

What fruit is in season UK-wide in autumn?

Apples and pears lead from September, with plums and damsons running into October. Quince arrives in October, medlars in October and November, and raspberries can carry on into October in a mild year. From the hedgerows, blackberries, elderberries and sloes are all in season, and sweet chestnuts and cobnuts join them. By November the fresh fruit narrows to apples, pears, quince and medlars.

What's in season UK-wide in January?

January is a month of roots, brassicas and stored crops: leeks, parsnips, swede, celeriac, Jerusalem artichokes, kale, Brussels sprouts, cabbage and cauliflower. Forced rhubarb is the bright exception, available in January and February. Apples, pears and Bramleys come from store, and winter squash from the autumn harvest is still good to cook.

What is the hungry gap?

It is the traditional name for the weeks in spring, roughly April to early June, when stored winter crops have run out and the new season's vegetables are not yet ready. Purple sprouting broccoli, spring greens, rhubarb, wild garlic and, from late April, asparagus help to fill it. Growers plan sowings around it to keep something to harvest.

Why is forced rhubarb pink and only around in winter?

Forced rhubarb is grown in dark sheds, which makes the stalks pale pink, tender and less sour than outdoor rhubarb. The roots are lifted after a cold spell in the field and brought indoors, where they push out stalks in the warmth and dark. That happens in January and February; outdoor rhubarb then follows from spring into early summer.

Is it safe to pick wild mushrooms in the UK?

Only if each mushroom has been identified with complete certainty by someone with expert knowledge. Several deadly species grow in Britain and resemble edible ones, so a photo, an app or a field guide alone is not enough. Cultivated mushrooms are a safe alternative, and the calendar lists wild mushrooms only for completeness, from September to November.

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