LOWER MAINLAND (NEWS1130) – Put on your gumboots and get ready for a sea of orange at your local pumpkin patch!

News1130 is finding out there is a bumper crop ready to be carved up for Halloween.

After last year’s dismal September and October, local growers are celebrating a fantastic pumpkin season. All that sunshine has resulted in deep oranges and nice green stems; perfect for your Jack o’ Lantern.

Jordan Maynard with Southlands Farm in Vancouver says they’re booking tons of tours. “We’ve got loads of pumpkins here!”

“The harvest is good. It’s been so dry, which is great. The early spring wasn’t so good for the bees… there’s a late start for the pumpkins as well, but they seem to be doing okay now,” he describes.

“We try to make it more educational rather than entertainment like some pumpkin patches. So, kids are learning a lot more about farm life and what’s going on in the soil and plants,” he notes.

Southlands is a smaller farm, but they do more than just pumpkins.

“We’re growing apples, a lot of different types of winter squash… [and] we’ve got kale,” says Maynard.

Just be prepared to get muddy!