How far from Halloween can I buy pumpkins?

[BlueBunny23]

How far from Halloween can I buy pumpkins and keep them stored in my house then carve them close to Halloween?
my partner thinks they will be rotted inside if we buy them now as we have 6-7 weeks until Halloween. But I want to buy some as there is a shortage where I live and I want the biggest best ones for our Halloween party. So if I was to buy them now would they have rotted inside by the time Halloween comes around?

I think you can buy them quite early if you keep them outside so they are cool and damp.

Don’t cut into them though. Then they will rot

They are probably still in the fields curing, the longer they cure the longer they last and the minute you cut into them the air will start the decomposition process.

So if you can get hold of any now, and store them until a few days before it should be fine.

Yep as others have said as long as they are kept cool they keep for ages! Just don't carve till a day or so before xx

I once failed to carve a pumpkin for Halloween so I decided to carve it at Christmas instead - it was even kept inside for that period.

This is good to know. I did read about the pumpkin shortage and wondered how early you could get hold of them and never imaged the answer would be now, I'll keep my eyes peeled for a good one. I don't want to end up with a turnip 😬

If cured properly winter squashes will last up to a year.

I've seen the first helloween type pumpkins this week.

they store reasonably well. garden pumpkins I would store in a shady area on an upside down fruit crate on a layer of newspaper under a bucket.
basically it needs air all around.

@FourTeaFallOut do you have a dobbies garden centre near you? They sell HUGE ones for £8 each we got a few last year we had to put the back seats down in the boot to make room for them.

I do have a Dobbies in striking distance, I will have a look, thanks for the heads up!

Just a little plea for people to compost/eat/bin their pumpkins when they’re finished with them. Please don’t put them in woodland “for the squirrels to eat”.
Squirrels do not eat pumpkins, it will just attract rats and disrupt the woodland ecosystem.