Growers believe they may have found the perfect growing conditions for pumpkins, meaning an explosion of enormous vegetables just in time for Halloween
Halloween will be one of the best on record with an abundance of monster-sized pumpkins, veg boffins have confirmed.
Growers believe they may have found the perfect growing conditions for the autumn plants which marks a stark contrast to last year when an “army” of pesky slugs ravaged masses of them.
Kingston Lacy in Dorset managed to save only half of its spooky squashes and Dunham Massey near Manchester lost all its plants.
But this year, folk will have their pick of giant pumpkins which flourished because of last year’s wet conditions, the warm and dry spring and plenty of sun.
Rebecca Bevan, the National Trust’s top plant egghead, said: “Last year’s weather recharged groundwater levels, resulting in the soil staying moister for longer in many areas which probably helped plants like pumpkins get established despite the lack of rain.”
Fruit and veg are also ripening and ready for harvest weeks earlier than usual, with far more yield than seen the past five years.
Ciaran Taylor, head gardener at the Wimpole Estate in Cambridgeshire, said: “It’s shaping up to be a bumper harvest.
“Both our apples and pumpkins are ripening earlier than usual this year. It looks like we’ll have a magnificent crop.”
Gardener Olivia Steed-Mundin, who works at the National Trust’s Sissinghurst, in Kent, added: “Our pumpkins are thriving too.
“They have loved the heat over the summer, but they are also very thirsty plants so might have yielded even better if we’d had more rain.
“Some are already ripe, and they store beautifully for up to six months if cured properly.”
Curing pumpkins is done by placing them in a dry, sunny and warm environment for a few weeks – a greenhouse or sunny windowsill is ideal.
After that they should be stored in dry, coolish conditions for long term storage.