Giant pumpkin sets P.E.I. record

William Van Schuppen won the annual P.E.I. giant pumpkin weigh-off over the weekend, setting a new Island record, with his 1,095.5-pound pumpkin beating the old record of 1,022 pounds.

"Tender loving care," saidthe Montague farmerof the secret of growing a record-breaking pumpkin, "from the time you put the seed in the ground in the spring until the time you cut it off in the fall."

Van Schuppen has been growing pumpkins for roughly 20 years and said he'll try to beat his own record next year to keep the provincial title.

The previous record holder was Clifford Picketts of French River.

Van Schuppen's pumpkin was not the heaviest grown on the Island this year.

Charlottetown's Eddie Shaw took his pumpkin to a weigh-off in Windsor, N.S., where it weighedin at 1,181 pounds,the heaviest grown in the Maritimes.