Supermarkets are celebrating the end of the British asparagus shortage after the sudden sunny weather allowed the vegetables numbers to soar.

British asparagus season traditionally starts on 23 April, but a spell of “frustratingly cold” weather had slowed the growth of the crop, The Guardian reported.

This led to supermarkets resorting to importing the crop from mainland Europe and the Americas.

Shoppers took to social media to voice their complaints about the popular grocery produce being imported from overseas at the height of its domestic growing peak.

One user posted a photo of convenience retailer Co-op’s asparagus that originated in Peru, adding: “This is so wrong as it’s peak UK asparagus season.”

However, the UK’s weekend heatwave has allowed homegrown crops to “grow like stink”, with Asparagus Growers Association chair Chris Chinn forecasting that the vegetable will soon be in supermarkets “everywhere”.

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“It took until the Bank Holiday weekend for the warmth [in the ground] to come back,” he added. “The spears are like little thermometers.”

Co-op said that its own Sussex-grown asparagus supply would be back from Monday and “100% British”.

The retailer added: “As a longstanding supporter of British farmers and growers, championing homegrown produce on our shelves when in season is important to our member-owners and us.

“We currently have British asparagus in stores, which will move to 100% British from Monday. This is slightly later than usual due to the colder weather conditions in the UK over the past months, which delayed crop growth.”

Fellow grocery retailer Waitrose also noted that its asparagus supply had been patchy, but was due to return to “full supply”.

The supermarket said: “We are now in full UK season supply, which, for this week and next is looking strong. That said, it’s been incredibly challenging for our asparagus growers and they have been doing all they can to combat the colder temperatures and unseasonably heavy rainfall.”