Getting My Fall On: Halloween Front Steps with Pumpkins as Planters

I am the first to admit that I'm a little slow decorating for fall and Halloween.  As they say, though, better late than never, right?  Yesterday, I worked on Halloweenin' up our front steps.

I had bought some mums, but I wanted to do something more creative than just put them in our regular, non-festive planters.  Then it came to me...a pumpkin is a perfect shape for a planter!  Voila:

These pumpkin planters are super-easy to make.  The whole process took me less than an hour.  Here's how I made them:

First, use a sharp knife (be careful!) to cut the top off the pumpkin.  The size of your mum (or other plant) should determine how wide you want the opening to be, but I wouldn't cut more than 1/3 of the pumpkin off, for stability's sake.  Don't worry if the top edge isn't even; it won't really show with the plant in the pumpkin.

Looks even more scary with the knife stuck in it! Boo!

Then, scoop out the pumpkin innards (seeds and pulp).  I also cut around the sides of the pumpkin to narrow the sides (see how knife is positioned, above), so that the plant could easily fit in it.  Be careful not to let your knife go through the sides or bottom of the pumpkin.

Then, I wanted to add some letters to the pumpkin.  I thought about using paint, but I had these great adhesive letters that were the right size and font, so I used those. Also, I'll explain in a bit why paint might not be the best option here; adhesive, removable letters was what I used.

Then I took it outside, planted the mum in it, and poof! Instant pumpkin planter:

Please ignore the bare planting bed next to the steps...that's another project for another day.

I then did the same thing for the second pumpkin:

 Here's what I love about this project:
(1) If you don't already have planters, this is a festive and inexpensive alternative.  The pumpkins were a little more than $4.00 each (local pumpkins at Whole Foods, 3 for $13) and I had the letters and extra potting soil already.

(2) Except for the letters, it's all compostable!  After the mums have faded and fall is behind us, you don't need to put this in the trash.  Take the letters off, cut up the pumpkin, and throw it and the plant in your compost bin.  If you don't have a compost bin, you can put it with your yard trash and they will put it in their compost pile - you don't even have to cut it up.  That's why removable letters are better here; I can remove them and then compost the entire thing.  I wouldn't want to put paint in the compost bin.

(3) It was easy.  As I mentioned above, the whole project took less than an hour.

So, grab yourself some warm apple cider, get some pumpkins, and get planting, peeps!

Thanks for stopping by!