“How do you fix a cracked pumpkin?”/“With a pumpkin patch.”

A popular Halloween pumpkin riddle is:
 
Q: How do you mend a broken jack-o’lantern?
A: With a pumpkin patch!
 
The joke has been cited in print since at least 1994, when it was printed in many newspapers. This joke was cited in 1998:
 
Q: How did the ghost patch his sheet?
A: With a pumpkin patch.
 
This version was cited in a 2003 book:
 
Q: How do you fix a pumpkin?
A: With a pumpkin patch.
 
“How do you cure someone with a pumpkin spice addiction?”/“Apply the pumpkin patch” is a similar riddle.
     
       
7 July 1994, The Post and Courier (Charleston, SC), “Mighty Funny’s Mini Jokes,” The Mini Page, pg. 2, col. 4:
(sent in by Michelle Tarrant)
Q: How do you mend a broken jack-o’lantern?
A: With a pumpkin patch!
   
Google Groups: alt.jokes.pentium
Need Children Jokes..Please
HLapla3527
10/8/98
(...)
Q. How did the ghost patch his sheet?
A. With a pumpkin patch.
 
5 November 1998, Los Angeles (CA) Times, “The Kids’ Reading Room: Pint-Sized Punch Lines,” pg. 11:
How do you fix a broken jack-o’-lantern? With a pumpkin patch. (Cyna Mason, 9, Placentia, Van Buren School)
 
Google Groups: alt.halloween.boo
Halloween Jokes
stirling
11/8/99
(...)
Q. How did the ghost patch his sheet?
A. With a pumpkin patch.
(...)
Q. How do you mend a broken Jack-o-lantern?
A. With a pumpkin patch!
 
Google Groups: alt.humor.puns
“Puns of the Weak” 10/20/00
Stan Kegel
10/21/00
(...)
How did the ghost repair his sheet?  With a pumpkin patch.  (By Clynch Varnadore)
 
Google Books
Kids’ Silliest Riddles
By Jacqueline Horsfall
Illustrated by Buck Jones
New York, NY: Sterling Publishing Company, Inc.
2003
Pg. 81:
How do you fix a pumpkin?
With a pumpkin patch.
 
Fresh for Kids (May 24, 2007)
Q: How do you fix a cracked pumpkin?
A: With a pumpkin patch!
From Lauren Ferguson
 
Twitter
(jeff)isageek
‏@jeffisageek
Halloween joke : how do you fix a jack o lantern?  Answer:  with a pumpkin patch!
7:54 PM - 31 Oct 2007
 
Google Books
The Happy Classroom:
From Ha-Ha to A-Ha
By Janet Aaker Smith
Marion, IL: Pieces of Learning
2011
Pg. 94:
How do you fix a flat pumpkin?
With a pumpkin patch.
 
Twitter
anne franklin
‏@annefranklin
How do you fix a broken pumpkin?
With a pumpkin patch. Bahahaha. C:@FoodCents
12:30 PM - 11 Oct 2011
 
Healthy Times
Seasoning’s Greetings
DEC 27TH, 2011
(...)
From Greg:
How do you fix a cracked pumpkin? With a Pumpkin patch.
 
Google Books
Kids Jokes:
Jokes For Kids
By Jackson Jones
California Online Publishers
2014
Pg. ?:
Q: How do you fix a cracked pumpkin?
A: With a pumpkin patch!