The 1998 Season

1998 started with unexpected competition. His name is Jake. He is a fine puppy but that is the problem. He takes great delight in racing through the pumpkin patches. I had an entire dump truck load of manure delivered. It’s fine for the pumpkins and one of my boys volunteered to spread it. However, Jake is much too interested in it. He will run into one of the pumpkin patches at any opportunity and steal a chunk that didn’t get turned in. It is his mouth, but then who wants to play with a puppy that has a mouth full of it. It has become a challenge to keep him out of the pumpkin patch that encroaches on his space.

Once again my computer has allowed me to do the impossible. Jake has never seen Max yet they pose together for the same photo. Jake managed to get past the first fence and completely destroy one plant. After installing a new fence I was able to keep him from doing any more damage in that pumpkin patch. Jake destroyed my plans for the second patch and only a backup plant remained. I treated this patch more aggressively with water and fertilizer but little else.

Little pumpkins can act much like popcorn under these conditions. Overnight, bang! I would come out in the morning to find that they had ‘exploded’. I lost count after 10 or so had exploded. This one was on the backup plant that was from a seed out of last year’s 341-pound pumpkin.

"Ottis" is ready for a trip to the local fair, all 467 pounds.