Will there be enough pumpkins for Halloween?

Every October, thousands flock to pumpkin patches across the country to take autumnal photos and pick a pumpkin to take home.

Pumpkin patches have been lucrative for farms over the years, with many people avoiding supermarkets, instead wanting an authentic autumn experience on their doorstep.

But at many farms, the fields of pumpkins are already ripe, with almost two months to go until Halloween.

Richard Jones from Llynclys Hall Farm, near Oswestry in Shropshire, was born on the farm, and has worked it all his life.

He is one of many farmers wondering if their pumpkins will still be ripe near the end of October.

"They have matured very early, which is not a good thing because we cannot bring Halloween forward," he said.

"They're now ready sitting in the field and have got to wait a month before we can sell any. This is unprecedented - I don't know if they'll rot."

Summer 2026 was the UK's hottest on record, in a dataset going back to 1884.

More than two-thirds of England were in drought, after the nation recorded its driest July since records began in 1836.

"Pumpkins like the sunshine, but they like some rain, and they've had July and August with no rain, so they've not been very happy," Jones said.

However, the weather has proved to have some benefits for Llynclys Hall Farm and its pumpkins.

"There's been no disease in them this year, because usually it's damp and humid, so we've had none of that," he said.

"And we've had less weed problems, even the weeds have struggled."

At Pumpkins R Us in Southam, Warwickshire, the pumpkins are all ripe, but Fiona Beards thinks they will keep for months.

While the crop did struggle in the heat and a few pumpkins did not survive, she believes they have enough for Halloween.

"The pumpkin is a very clever plant, it starts aborting the fruit to keep the plant alive," she said.

"If it's got three fruit and it's too hot, it will drop one off and keep the rest."

Beards said this year's crop had done better than last years and she believed they were getting used to warmer weather.

Over at Pumpkin Pete's in Ledbury, Herefordshire, the farm is in its ninth year of running its pick your own pumpkin patch.

Farmer Ed Godsall said: "Historically I've always thought with us we fare better in hot, dry summers then we do wet, cold, damp ones.

"They're originally from central America so they do like a bit of heat. This year has pushed that to the very limit though."

The farm cannot irrigate its pumpkins, so is at the mercy of the weather.

Godsall is happy with this year's crop, but says they are lacking in size as they have not had enough water, and the farm did lose some fruit early on due to heat stress.

However, his main concern is keeping them ripe until Halloween.

"They're ready now and they've got to wait until the end of October," he said.

While he said some growers thought there might be a slight shortage for Halloween, he believes anyone who looks around different farms should be able to find one.

While extremely hot, dry summers might have once been one-offs for the farm, Godsall acknowledges these extremes are now becoming normal.

"We're definitely looking at climate change seriously now, more than we ever have before," he said.

"We are looking at our business, what we can do. The big thing is water capture and storage. Do we look at a mega investment of a reservoir to irrigate crops?

"But are the crops worth enough to put irrigation in in the first place? It can be a vicious circle."

Richard Simkin at Essington Farm in Staffordshire, near Wolverhampton, said it had been a mixed year for the farm.

"The pumpkins got off to a very good start. They were romping away beautifully," he told the BBC.

"Then we had heatwave after heatwave after heatwave."

Leaves wilted as the plants could not get enough water from the ground to thrive, and started to struggle under the intense heat.

Others were broken open by wildlife who struggled to find other sources of water during the heat.

"So that's caused a bit of damage," he added.

"But I don't want to paint too gloomy a picture - we will have enough pumpkins for our customers."

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