Pumpkin patch practices and gourd garden grooming.
#89755
Not good, i've known this for a while based on the commercial growers & what i've seen in the fields..

There has been severe seed failure which resulted in flip of the coin seed drilling to re-plant in time or not type gambles.
for instance, one row will be fine, second will be really mediocre, third row "dead" ..failure to grow.

Despite lots of testing there has been no conclusion drawn as to the reason behind it.

Therefore get them while you can, premium prices abound, large (were, £3.00 ) pumpkins now £7+ at the farmers gate.

Demand is screaming from the supermarkets, due to the poor use of storage (insisted upon by the likes of tesco) & short to non-existent stems speeding the rot, avoidance of supermarkets recommended.

Picking in my region only started last friday, many sores have had their stocks in for a while.... good luck with that.

Anyway, felt I ought to let you all know in case some are wavering, seek em out, claim them, because I only saw around 20 crates compared to the normal 100 or so.

Cheers & bye.
Last edited by GUS on Tue Aug 25, 2015 1:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.
#89807
I picked up my pumpkins from the farm a couple of weeks ago, they've stored well in the shed :D But yeah it's been a bad year up here too, they've lost 4,000+ pumpkins on this years crop :( The ones that did make it aren't very big height wise but still just about better than the super market, cheaper if nothing else! It'll be a year of shrunken patterns for me, it's a good job I'm well versed in carving small 'kins :lol:
#91851
OK, 2015 is looking good in the fens of the UK (luckily thats where the uk's pumpkins proliferate for the stores...)

I walked a singular field with Farmer Rob, there are a good amount of already BIG pumpkins growing... so unless we have weather catastrophes the supply is looking good in the initial (last year there was a massive run on them, & PYO's were pleading for pallets of kins to put OUT in their fields (already picked & cleaned) ..madness, profitable though :thumbsup:

& I had to bring a few small ones (rejects home with me to start carving practise with) end of AUGUST & i'm carving :lol: :lol: :lol: (seriously) ..sorry folks, ..but why not go & chat to your local grower (ring ahead) & get some in now for a smooth transition & time to play!?
:D
#91867
Im hopeful that we'll have a decent crop up here this year. The farm that Matspud and I get ours from grow in polytunnels, at least they have been doing the past couple of years I think. I don't mind paying a little extra for that if they grow some nice whoppers.