Smashing pumpkins: where to pick your own in London for Halloween — and save the seeds to grow for next year

Homes & Property | Gardening

Smashing pumpkins: where to pick your own in London for Halloween — and save the seeds to grow for next year

With Halloween just around the corner, here's your guide for where to go for some truly smashing pumpkins
George Hudson1 November 2023

It’s nearly Halloween and nothing says spooky season better than the humble pumpkin.

A growing number of farmers have caught on to the Instagrammable appeal of their fields of bulbous orange fruit, opening their farm gates this month to let people harvest their own.

Here is a selection of places where you can pick your own.

Priory Farm

Open until Sunday, October 29.

Booking essential, tickets start at £4.50.

Sandy Lane, South Nutfield, Redhill RH1 4EJ

prioryfarm.co.uk/halloween

Make sure you prebook for Stanhill Farm
Handout

Stanhill Farm

Open until Friday, October 27. Online prebooking essential.

Birchwood Road, Wilmington, Dartford DA2 7HD

Secretts

Open until Sunday, October 29. Booking essential, tickets £3.50 per person.

Hurst Farm, Chapel Lane, Milford, Surrey GU8 5HU

secretts.co.uk/pumpkin-week-23

Healthy and fresh vegetables. Borough market, London
Drop by Borough Market to nab pumpkins you can eat
Alamy Stock Photo

Lewis Of London Ice Cream Farm

Open until Sunday, October 29. Booking essential, tickets from £7.50 with a pumpkin included. It is also holding an SEN session tomorrow morning (Thursday).

Fold Farm, Galley Lane, Barnet EN5 4RA

Borough Market

Not quite pick-your-own, but Borough Market is the place to get some of the most delicious pumpkin and squash at this time of year.

Look out for my favourite, the Lunga di Napoli, a rather long but very delicious squash.

Borough Market, 8 Southwark Street, London, SE1 1TL

Planting pumpkin seeds for germination into biodegradable peat pots. Spring gardening and sowing
Keep the seeds and you can grow your own next year
Alamy Stock Photo

Save your seeds

A lot of gardening books will discourage you from saving seeds from pumpkins and squashes because they easily cross-pollinate.

For me this is a fun part, because there is a chance one of those seeds could produce a totally new kind of pumpkin.

When you carve your pumpkin, set a range of seeds aside. You can eat the ones you don’t save.

Rinse off any pulp, dry them with a clean towel, and leave them on a plate somewhere cool inside to air-dry.

After a week, store them in an envelope in a cool, dark and dry place until spring.

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