Copyright dailystar
Families are being advised to carve watermelons or pineapples this Halloween amid a shortage of pumpkins. Around 24million pumpkins are usually bought in the UK for the spooky season, but the scorching summer and drought withered the vegetable. Farms whose crop died are racing to buy from wholesalers, but some bigger growers have already sold out as the half-term rush begins. And Brits left without Jack-o’-lanterns have been told to turn to large fruit instead. Expert Chris Bonnett of website Gardening Express said: “When there is a shortage of pumpkins, people could carve other fruits and vegetables such as watermelons or pineapples.” Farms also warned pumpkins which survived the hot summer are smaller than normal, blaming heatwaves for making them grow too fast. Up to two months was cut off the growing season, with many pumpkins, usually ready in October, ripe in August. Lyburn Farm, Landford, Wilts - one of Britain’s biggest pumpkin wholesalers – had to turn down a string of orders from drought-hit farms after selling out of its 100,000 pumpkins and 400,000 squashes. Manager Jono Smales said: “A lot of farms have had pumpkin difficulties this year due to the drought, with less rain, poor germination, struggling crops and bigger weeds in fields due to the heat. “I’d been getting a few phone calls every day from farms and pumpkin patches whose crop hadn’t grown, asking if we had any to sell. But we’re sold out and have had to stop taking orders. “We have good irrigation so have enough pumpkins, although they are a bit smaller than normal. “This is the same for many other farms, where plants had a shorter growing season due to the heat then ran out of water, meaning they died off early, resulting in a smaller size.” A boss at another major pumpkin grower near London said: “The drought means it’s been such a difficult year for growing. “The pumpkins look smaller and there are fewer of them. We had to pick some of them in August as they were ready so early.”
