20,000 crops prime for picking at pals lockdown pumpkin patch

By Ellie Forbes via SWNS

A pair of students are celebrating a bumper crop at their pumpkin patch which started as a lockdown hobby– with more than 20,000 ready to be picked.

Pals Alex Humphreys, 23, and David Grant-Suttie, 22, started the patch last year with just 3,000 pumpkins after planting the seeds when they were bored during lockdown.

But this year, they have grown more than six times as many pumpkins on a three-acre field at David’s family farm on Balgone Estate in North Berwick, Scotland.

“We continued this year on the back of last year’s success which was a really enjoyable," said Alex.

“We are still on the learning curve, but increased our crop a lot this time around and it’s been a bumper year for the pumpkins."

Alex, who is studying for a masters in international business at the University of Edinburgh, said they have welcomed around 8,000 people to the farm in just four days.

“It’s been really busy, we have had around 8,000 after just four days," he said.

“It was so nice to see everyone come together and enjoy getting stuck into the farm."

And he said the warm weather this year created the perfect conditions to produce a ‘bumper’ crop- a crop that yields an unusually productive harvest– including Pot of Gold, Atlantic Giant, Goosebumps and Jack O’Lantern.

“The weather had a huge impact on the crop, it was a lot warmer earlier in the year which created perfect conditions," he said.

“The plants are looking really healthy and have produced great pumpkins.

“We have a variety on offer, including Polar Bears which are the big white ones, and the little cute Munchkin pumpkins.

They have also grown big white Polar Bear pumpkins and tiny Munchkin ones after planting nearly 15,000 seeds earlier this year.

“We planted the seeds at the end of May which is later than normal, but it paid off as the pumpkins began to ripen in good time," Alex said.

“It’s been the perfect year.”

Alex said they are trying to encourage customers to think about recycling their pumpkins after Halloween.

He said: “We are also encouraging customers to think about recycling their pumpkins and trying to give them ideas for recipe they can use them in afterwards."