What to Know
- Try using a mix of pumpkins and gourds in various colors.
- Blend your pumpkins in with seasonal favorites like pansies, cabbage and ornamental grasses.
- Hair spray and hot wax pepper spray are amazing tools for preserving pumpkins and keeping critters away.
It's pumpkin season. Whether you've already picked them or you're headed to the patch this weekend, the experts have a few tips on how to make the most of pumpkins when it comes to fall decor.
Colin Kuhn, general manager of American Plant in Bethesda, suggests using a mix of pumpkins and gourds in various colors to line the steps of a home.
“To help draw your eye up, you can start with a stack at the top of the stairs and then create that cascading effect coming down. You won’t need to use as many gourds and pumpkins because you're using the stairs height as your advantage,” says Kuhn.
You can also use pumpkins in potting containers. Kuhn recommends a blend of seasonal favorites like pansies, cabbage and ornamental grasses mixed in with pumpkins.
A broken stem can be the death of a pumpkin. They can quickly rot, but they can be salvaged with one surprising hair product, believe it or not.
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“Keep it with that wound side up. It will help that wound dry," Kuhn says. "After it's dried completely, after a day or two, you can take some hairspray, spray it on the wound."
In fact, spraying the hairspray over the entire gourd or pumpkin will "give it a really nice shine," Kuhn says.
Some like it hot, but not the critters. You can also use a hot wax pepper spray on the pumpkins to keep nibblers away.
The all-natural spray will give animals a taste of spicy heat which will deter them from turning your fall decorations into lunch.
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