[quixotic]

My Halloween spirit has gone out the window, usually grow our own pumpkins but they didn't grow this year any bigger than a golf ball, tried to remain optimistic and went down the route of buying supermarket pumpkins, when the big supermarkets in the UK first got their pumpkins in they were really disappointing, I must have lifted around 70 pumpkins out of each bin in one shop and all of them had dark spots starting, some worse than others, have been checking since then and not much better, went to 3 supermarkets today, Asda pumpkins were tiny and rotting, Tesco are calling their pumpkins large but they are also tiny and they do have apparent giant pumpkins for £3, i'm so desperate now that i'd pay £3 for a pumpkin but they seemed to all be decaying too, doesn't really feel like Halloween without pumpkins making me feel like just not bothering with Halloween this year.

Printed out the patterns I wanted to do this year aswell!

[Ajax]

That sucks Hope you find something. Talk to Gus or Nos might be able to point you in the right direction.

[quixotic]

That sucks Hope you find something. Talk to Gus or Nos might be able to point you in the right direction.

Yeah, it really does, can't even get foam pumpkins over here, I just feel insanely disappointed! which is silly but I love Halloween and i've had pumpkins each year for many many years, I wanted around 8 this year and I can't even get 1 decent one never mind 8, it's pretty bad.

[GUS]

Sometimes I think that seeing as i've found a decent farmer in the fens uk close to arterial roads, that, (crop allowing) & bearing in mind I'm allowed free pick of the crop, that we ought to arrange a bloody large pallet layered & assigned according to stops (logistics) to freight to say 5 -8 uk folk to ensure they had decent BIG pumpkins.

If this sounds like a good idea we probably could do this (hell i'd be picking them from the field) ..let's break the cycle of poor crops & work it in our favour!

we have a pumpkin farm (fertile land), pallets, & freight lorries calling most days, we'd need numbers & prices & qtys to work out proper logistics based on fuel & crop prices.
My time would be well served if it served to shut folk up via big ruddy pumpkins the sort that only Jimmy Savile could fix...

i'll only offer to do it once folks!

[graveyard]

i live i the fens and if you drive down the back roads any where you will see kins for sale on peoples front garden i got to big ones the other day £1 each good will. so i would say take a drive out near any farmers and have a look ,or your local allotments as every one try to grow them
Good luck

[monstermash]

See what Matspud says but you might find some bigger than supermarket ones left at Cairnie Fruit Farms in cupar, Fife. Even check their website and give them a call. Its far away from Glasgow but at least is a tiny glimmer of hope. The only other thing I an think of doing is what graveyard said. Try any allotments, greengrocers might be worth a look. Small fruit and veg shops instead of supermarkets sometimes have good crops from who knows where. And keep going to the supers. You never know. The "monster" ones I saw at the corstorphine tesco would have just fit a pattern without resizing. Chin up quixotic. I feel for you. Gus might be on to something for next year.

[nosferatu]

I spent four hours on the M6 this afternoon visiting the farm I got some marrow shaped ones last year. They were already on the turn and wouldn't last another week.

I ended up at ASDA I bought 12 at £1 each. They aren't big. I reckon that the patterns will have to be reduced by 25%. I have been promised a huge one that has been grown at the local prison, so it may be worth checking those sources as most prisons have farms these days that sell produce.

GUS, next year I'm coming down to your local farm. Just tell me the where and when

[matspud]

Cairnie had some "decent" sized ones a week or so ago but not sure what is lefy - he might have some beauties stores in the barn The other thing to watch for is that we had hard frost a couple of nights last week and that will affect any kins left outside Give them a call QX it is a terrible distance to go. I did get one good sized one from Sainsburys in EDinburgh so maybe check out your local one and see what they have.


BTW GUS I have a friend whose family live relatively close to the pumpkin farm you use so we are considering a road trip next year

[GUS]

How near MS?


Reason I say a pallet (& a high sided one at that is based on fuel economics, by the time one or 2 folk would have coughed up petrol it'd supply a pallet crate inc pumpkins up to edinburgh (or wherever) with a few stps on the way in all probability.

I'd simply layer them according to first drop / last drop (& i'd-ed) based on good kins sort that everyone wanted "big I guess"
Petrol's too expensive & would make a pumpkin addition questionable even in the most understanding of minds, let logistics take the strain I reckon, & to "handball" ones pumpkins off at each drop, would only take a matter of minutes with a side curtain & a willing "pre instructed" driver.

jeez it cost us £120 just in petreol to Devon earlier this year, & petrols got more expensive!

[quixotic]

Thanks for the replies guys, I dragged myself to another Asda today, managed to get 7 pumpkins, bit better sized that the ones I seen yesterday, couple of them aren't in the best of shape, will have to keep an eye on them but atleast I got a few!