What goes into our fantastic Pumpkin Patch
When you visit our Pick Your Own Pumpkin Patch in October, you’ll see hundreds of pumpkins, beautiful autumn displays and plenty of picture-perfect backdrops. What you might not see is the months of planning and hard work that go into making it all happen.
Preparation for our pumpkin season begins right at the start of the year.
Long before autumn arrives, we’re selecting our pumpkin varieties, ordering seeds and preparing the ground ready for planting. Once the seeds are in the ground, the real work begins as we carefully monitor their growth throughout the spring and summer.
This year brought an extra challenge.
The prolonged heatwave and unusually dry weather meant our pumpkins needed even more attention than usual. With very little rainfall for weeks on end, our team had to regularly monitor the crop while also maintaining the rest of the farm and preparing for our busy calendar of events.
To help the pumpkins thrive, we installed and managed a sprinkler system across the field. As our pumpkins are spread over a large growing area, the sprinklers had to be moved regularly to ensure every part of the patch received the water it needed. It was a labour of love, but seeing healthy pumpkins growing across the field made every early morning and late afternoon worthwhile.
Halloween & Autumn Magic
Of course, the pumpkins are only part of what makes our Pick Your Own Pumpkin Patch so special.
Every year we spend time designing and creating the autumn displays, Halloween decorations and themed photo backdrops that visitors know and love. Some favourites return each year after a little refresh, while others are brand new, giving families even more opportunities to capture those perfect autumn memories.
The busy weeks are still to come
As October approaches, our busiest weeks begin. Our team installs all of the decorations and photo props throughout the patch, prepares the payment hut and gets everything ready to welcome visitors.
Finally, once the pumpkins have reached the perfect size, they are carefully cut from the vines and placed throughout the Pick Your Own Pumpkin Patch, ready for families to wander through the field and choose their favourites.
What makes it all worthwhile
Seeing the finished pumpkin patch filled with smiling families makes all the hard work worthwhile, and we can’t wait to welcome you this autumn.
Our Pick Your Own Pumpkin Patch opens every weekend from 3rd October until 18th October, before the return of Sharnfold Spooktacular during October half term.
