Small pumpkins as unusual weather hits Halloween

This year's unusual weather means Halloween pumpkins could be on the small side, the Royal Horticultural Society says.

Gardeners trying to grow the fruit for Halloween lanterns have struggled in the face of an unusually dry spring and a cool, damp spell in late summer, to get pumpkins to grow well.

Leigh Hunt, principal horticultural adviser at the RHS, said it had been a strange year but the news was not all bad for Halloween as smaller fruit would be more suitable for children to have a go at turning into lanterns. PA