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Saturday, May 31, 2025 thebbqguy Belleville MI

Entry 48 of 52  
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Here is my official photo for the "photo for scale" of my entry into the 150sf contest for 2025. It is from a 1869 Van Houttee that he shared at the Michigan meeting in March. The backup plant looks phenomenonal, but it's been the house. This one has had a lot of obstacles outside so far. Cold, rain, hail, extreme wind (even today there are 20+ mph gusts), and birds that have literally been eating on the leaves. Tuesday we have some great weather in the forecast , so hopefully it's turning the corner. Eventually the ugly wind protection strategy will have to go, but it's pretty effective.

I've gone back and forth on the nickname. Last year's "Peyton Manning" was good and this year I am leaning towards "Johnny Majors" but my wife says no one know who that is outside of Tennessee and Pennsylvania. He also holds the distinction of being an honorary judge at the Jack Daniel's BBQ Championship Cookoff every fall for about 2 decades. (We used to compete in KCBS events too.)

I am using the very budget $39 irrigation from Amazon but it's will help augment the hand watering a little bit. I determined that last year, the biggest reason I didn't get better results is that I underestimated the water needs. My brother-in-law is a retired biologist and law enforcement specialist from U.S. Department Fish and Wildlife, along with Tennessee' " Conservationist of the Year" for 2025, and has used the same ultrabudget strategy pretty successfully in his garden.

#150sf pumpkin contest
#2025
 



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