{"id":40924,"date":"2024-10-09T07:33:00","date_gmt":"2024-10-09T05:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/41696de6-b61a-46d4-9254-6960bc115390"},"modified":"2024-10-09T08:32:41","modified_gmt":"2024-10-09T06:32:41","slug":"where-are-all-the-pumpkins-wet-and-cold-weather-has-meant-pumpkin-patches-are-disappointing","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/rss_feed\/where-are-all-the-pumpkins-wet-and-cold-weather-has-meant-pumpkin-patches-are-disappointing\/","title":{"rendered":"Where are all the pumpkins? Wet and cold weather has meant pumpkin patches are disappointing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"rssexcerpt\">The National Trust reports that pumpkin crops are significantly down this year, with crops either not growing or being eaten by slugs <\/p><p class=\"rssauthor\">By <\/p><p class=\"rssbyline\">Published: Wednesday, 09 October 2024 at 05:33 AM<\/p><hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/><?xml version=\"1.0\" encoding=\"UTF-8\" standalone=\"yes\"?>\n<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC \"-\/\/W3C\/\/DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional\/\/EN\" \"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/TR\/REC-html40\/loose.dtd\">\n<html><body><p>The cold, wet weather seen across 2024 and the subsequent boom in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gardensillustrated.com\/plants\/slug-proof-vegetables\">slug<\/a> populations have meant pumpkin harvests have been significantly affected this year. <\/p><p><strong>You may also like<\/strong><\/p><ul><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gardensillustrated.com\/features\/worst-growing-year-ever\">Why 2024 has been the worst growing year ever<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gardensillustrated.com\/plants\/slug-proof-vegetables\">17 slug proof veg<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gardensillustrated.com\/features\/slugs-snails-gardeners-friends\">Are gardeners ready to make friends with slugs and snails?<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gardensillustrated.com\/garden-advice\/how-to\/organic-slug-control-ten-best\">The ten best organic slug controls<\/a><\/li><li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gardensillustrated.com\/plants\/slug-proof-plants\">38 ornamental plants and flowers that slugs don&#8217;t like<\/a><\/li><\/ul><p>Across the National Trust&#8217;s gardens, gardeners have been forced harvest their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gardensillustrated.com\/plants\/how-to-grow-your-own-pumpkin-and-squash\">pumpkins<\/a> early due to such terrible conditions. <\/p><p>Kingston Lacy in Dorset have had to harvest their pumpkins a month earlier than usual, with only half the normal crop being saved. Andrew Hunt, the gardener at Kingston Lacy said: \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.gardensillustrated.com\/recipes\/spiced-pumpkin-soup\">Pumpkins<\/a> need a long, hot growing season to do well. Unfortunately, we had a cold and prolonged spring, which meant that germination took place later than normal and then the cooler and wetter conditions over the summer really haven\u2019t helped.\u201d<\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">A slug feeds on a \u2018Georgia Candy Roaster\u2019 pumpkin at Buckland Abbey, Devon. \u00a9 National Trust<\/figcaption><\/figure><p>Elsewhere, Arlington Court in Devon lost over 150 squash and pumpkin plants due to poor weather and slugs, which was also the same for Buckland Abbey in Devon. <\/p><p>A dry and sunny start to autumn could have saved the pumpkin harvest, but September was so cold and wet that the pumpkin and squash plants stopped growing and needed to be harvested early. <\/p><p>The Met Office released figured last week showing that some counties had the wettest September on record, despite national monthly records not being broken. Ten English counties experienced their wettest September on record, and Bedfordshire and Oxfordshire had the wettest calendar month since records began in 1836. Southern and central England had the worst rain, with some counties seeing 300 per cent more than their average rainfall. <\/p><p>Nostell and Dunham Massey saw a very slow season too, with Nostell in West Yorkshire only getting 25 pumpkins where 80 is more usual. <\/p><figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1702\" src=\"https:\/\/c02.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/40\/2024\/10\/Calke-Abbeys-pumpkin-theatre-will-have-fewer-pumpkins-albeit-a-good-display-this-year.-National-Trust-Images_Gillian-Day-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Pumpkins and gourds on display in the auricula theatre at Calke Abbey, Derbyshire.\" class=\"wp-image-179152\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Pumpkins and gourds on display in the auricula theatre at Calke Abbey, Derbyshire. \u00a9 National Trust<\/figcaption><\/figure><p>Other gardens, like Tyntesfield near Bristol and Calke Abbey in Derbyshire, reported a slow start to the pumpkin growing season because of the cold and wet weather, but managed to catch up. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gardensillustrated.com\/gardens\/sissinghurst-troy-scott-smith-vision\">Sissinghurst Castle Garden<\/a> had a reduced pumpkin crop, but Olivia Steed-Mundin, the vegetable gardener thinks this could be to do with a noticeable lack of bumblebees this year. <\/p><p>This year has been dubbed &#8216;the worst year for growing&#8217; by several key vegetable farmers and nurseries. In our instagram poll, 80 per cent of people who responded said they had found it hard growing in their garden, citing slugs and rain as two significant issues. <\/p><p>With <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gardensillustrated.com\/gardens\/gardens-to-visit\/halloween-garden-events\">Halloween<\/a> on the horizon, people will be looking towards their pumpkins, but if you&#8217;re lacking in a substantial crop, why not try our suggestion of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gardensillustrated.com\/features\/scary-apples-halloween-make\">spooky apples? <\/a><\/p> <\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The National Trust reports that pumpkin crops are significantly down this year, with crops either not growing or being eaten by slugs <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":40925,"template":"","categories":[1,48],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"3"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2024\/10\/where-are-all-the-pumpkins-wet-and-cold-weather-has-meant-pumpkin-patches-are-disappointing.jpg",2560,1576,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2024\/10\/where-are-all-the-pumpkins-wet-and-cold-weather-has-meant-pumpkin-patches-are-disappointing-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2024\/10\/where-are-all-the-pumpkins-wet-and-cold-weather-has-meant-pumpkin-patches-are-disappointing-300x185.jpg",300,185,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2024\/10\/where-are-all-the-pumpkins-wet-and-cold-weather-has-meant-pumpkin-patches-are-disappointing-768x473.jpg",768,473,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2024\/10\/where-are-all-the-pumpkins-wet-and-cold-weather-has-meant-pumpkin-patches-are-disappointing-1024x630.jpg",800,492,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2024\/10\/where-are-all-the-pumpkins-wet-and-cold-weather-has-meant-pumpkin-patches-are-disappointing-1536x946.jpg",1536,946,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2024\/10\/where-are-all-the-pumpkins-wet-and-cold-weather-has-meant-pumpkin-patches-are-disappointing-2048x1261.jpg",2048,1261,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"The National Trust reports that pumpkin crops are significantly down this year, with crops either not growing or being eaten by slugs","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/40924"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/gardensillustrated\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}