The rain ruined the enjoyment of summer. But the rains in June and July also hit farmers badly as many crops were destroyed.
However a British pumpkin farmer says that his crop of pumpkins is down by 30 per cent and have not yet ripened.
David Bowman, a farmer from Lincoln said, “It’s a disaster. Everybody knows that pumpkins are orange.”
The result will be higher prices and shops selling out.
Halloween is the biggest event in a pumpkin farmers’ diary as pumpkins are used for lantern carving on the 31 October.
The Spalding Pumpkin Festival held next weekend usually attracts 10,000 visitors. Mr Bowman is trying to ripen his crop in his sheds so they don’t stand out too much.
He said, “I’ve run the temperature up to 25C and the place is like a furnace. I can only hope it’s going to work in time.”
A farmer of 35 years experience, Mr Bowman has never seen anything like this before. The situation is even worse because of the problems American farmers have also had.
Mr Bowman said, “Europe’s had it too hot, America’s had no rain in one part and too much rain in another part so theirs aren’t ready either.”
Mr Bowman’s advice is, buy a green pumpkin and let it ripen in the window . The sun is not warm enough at this time of year to ripen them.