Dry weather forces pumpkin picking fields to close

Laura Brady, wearing a dark fleece, black trousers, rubber boots and a patterned headband, holds a large carved orange pumpkin with a triangular-eyed face. She stands on bare ground at the edge of a pumpkin field, where orange and pale pumpkins are scattered among low green plants. Wooden pallets, stacked plastic crates and two other people are visible further back, with hedges around the field beneath a cloudy sky.Laura Brady

The Wonky Parsnip had some pumpkins but not enough for people to pick their own

Phil Harrisonin Southfleet and Tanya GuptaSouth East

Two farms in Kent have cancelled their pick-your-own pumpkin events after dry weather hit this year's crops.

Broadditch Farm in Southfleet would normally have harvested 25,000 to 30,000 pumpkins in autumn, but this year expects to have around 1,500.

Farmer John Harris said the pumpkins had not got going this year because of the lack of moisture, adding: "We're suffering. We've only harvested a tenth of what we should have done."

The Wonky Parsnip at Brogdale Farm in Faversham is also not opening its pick-your-own pumpkin patch this year. Owner Laura Brady wrote on Facebook she was "absolutely gutted".

John Harris is wearing a green baseball cap, checked shirt and dark green sleeveless fleece and standing with one hand resting on a wooden crate. Crates on either side are filled with large orange and pale cream pumpkins and smaller yellow, white, orange, green and striped squash. A large red, white and blue Union flag covers much of the wall behind.

Broadditch says it has harvested only a fraction of its usual pumpkin crop

At Broadditch, Harris said the struggle was getting them germinated after they were sown in May, but once they were growing, they loved sunshine.

"The key is obviously getting a crop there to start with," he said.

"If we could get some rainfall through May, we don't need a lot, just a good shower to get them all going, and they'll be fine," he added.

An update on the farm's website said crops were grown using rainfall rather than irrigation, but it left them "at the mercy of the British weather".

Large pale blue-grey squash sit beside smaller cream, yellow and orange striped squash, with knobbly white, green and red varieties and bright orange pumpkins packed into a wooden produce crate.

The farm shop still has a supply of homegrown pumpkins and squash

Over at The Wonky Parsnip market garden, Brady said she had "waited and waited all summer" for the weather to change.

In the end, Brogdale Farm had produced some pumpkins, but not enough to provide the experience she wanted for visitors.

She said the pumpkins which had grown had been sold to restaurants, used for displays or put on sale in the farm shop.

Brady said pumpkins were eaten and grown all around the world and it was not impossible to grow them in hot weather.

The farm could now consider different varieties, including drought-resistant pumpkins, or look at planting earlier, she added.

"Sometimes things are not what we want but we can't get too upset," she said. "We've just got to try again next year."

Laura Brady holds a large dark green pumpkin above one shoulder while standing among sprawling pumpkin plants. Orange, cream and green pumpkins of different sizes are scattered across the field.Laura Brady

Laura Brady said she was "absolutely gutted" not to be opening the pick-your-own pumpkin patch this year

Halloween activities are still running at Broadditch, Harris said.

The "spooky trailer ride" will not be running because the pick-your-own pumpkin field is closed.

However, activities that are still running include a Little Frights Trail and pumpkin carving workshops, while pumpkins and squash remain on sale in the farm shop.

Large round orange pumpkins and pale cream pumpkins fill a wooden crate in the foreground, with their thick brown stalks still attached. Behind them, another crate contains smaller blue-grey, cream, yellow and orange striped, red and green squash in a range of rounded and ridged shapes. A Union flag hangs behind the crates.

Both farmers are hoping for better conditions next year

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