Pumpkins will be too small to carve this year after drought damaged their growth.
Halloween warning issued with pumpkins ‘too small to carve’ this year
A Halloween blow has been issued – as pumpkins look set to be too SMALL to carve this year. Pumpkins will be too small to carve this year after drought damaged their growth.
The orange gourds are expected to be around 40 pedr cent smaller this year and have thicker skins, making them harder to cut, farmers have warned.
David Coulter, a farmer from Suffolk-based Home Farm Pumpkins, said: “In the heat, the pumpkins just gave up and stopped growing early, even when there was moisture available. With the lack of water and heat, it was a double whammy.
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“We’ve got lots of small ones, but children like to carve the big ones, don’t they? Because of the heat, the skin is a bit thicker than normal. I think some little kids might struggle carving into them.”
Ketan Dave, of Barfoots, one of Britain’s leading pumpkin growers, said: “With the really small pumpkins, don’t carve on them, just draw on them.”
Gavin Lane, the president of the Country Land and Business Group, said: “This is an opportune moment for parents to talk to their children about the effects of the weather on growing crops and the potential difficulty of growing vegetables in the future.”
Looking ahead to October, and an early Met Office forecast says: “A changeable theme is likely to continue, with further spells of rain and showers arriving from the North Atlantic, perhaps accompanied by strong winds at times.”
The outlook from the forecasters adds: “These are more likely to affect northern and western parts, but could also affect the wider UK if such systems push east or southeastwards.
“Some settled spells are also possible during this period, these most likely in the south.
“Temperatures for the period as a whole will probably be close to average overall.”
