The price of lettuce rose sharply this week as an unusually dry spell left the hillside allotments parched, pushing traders to scramble for what one described as “anything green and not actively a weed.”
The jump comes after a summer of steady supply. Gardeners on the upper terraces planted late this year, and the crop that did come up has been thin. Butterhead has been especially scarce.
“Everyone wants the soft leaves,” said one trader, who works the lower beds. “Nobody wants kale. Kale is always available. There is a lesson in that.”
Analysts expect prices to ease once the forecast rain arrives over the weekend, though several cautioned that a wet week often brings a second problem: competition.