How to Make a Pumpkin Stack with Real Pumpkins

For years I have had a pumpkin stack, or topiary, on either side of the front door in the Fall using hollow faux pumpkins stuck together and placed on two pots. This year I decided I wanted to try to use real pumpkins! Let me take you through the steps of making a pumpkin stack using real pumpkins.

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Let me add, in the Summer I like to have potted ferns on the porch.

When Summer begins to turn into Fall, the ferns always look amazing still! I’ll be ready for mums and not know where to put the ferns. I then end up getting rid of them, and it feels like such a waste! This year I thought it might look cool to put a pumpkin stack right on top of the ferns. I figured if it ended up killing them it wouldn’t be a big deal at that point, so it would be worth trying. Also, if they ended up turning a little brown, maybe it would just add to the Fall look. So at the time of writing this blog post, it has been about 3 weeks, and they are still going strong! I water a little around the pumpkin occasionally, and they look surprisingly happy still.

How to Make the Pumpkin Stack

Materials

1. wooden dowels (3/8 oak)
2. wood pieces cut to size (1×4)
3. saw
4. drill
5. mallet
6. pots filled with dirt, with or without ferns
7. shears
8. pumpkins (somewhat flat ones make things easier)
9. bleach

Instructions

Preparing the Pumpkins

2. Wash your pumpkins. This sign pictured below is up at our local pumpkin patch. Too ensure your pumpkins last as long as possible, follow these directions!

Creating the Base

3. So that the stack is sturdy and steady, you are going to need to build a base with a wooden dowel for the pumpkins to slide onto.

Remove the fern/dirt (ours stayed in one piece moving it out) and measure the base of the pot.

4. Measure out two pieces of wood (we used pressure treated 1×4), and cut them to size to fit tightly in the bottom of the pot. Drill a hole down the center. We used a 3/8 inch dowel and drilled a 3/8 inch hole. Use a mallet to secure the dowel into the holes.

Making the Stack

5. Gently place the fern over the dowel, centering it. Slide the fern down the dowel into place. If you’re not using a fern, just fill the pot up with dirt around the dowel to help steady the pumpkins later.

6. Remove the stems off of the largest pumpkins (the bottom two). CAREFULLY drill holes (still 3/8) in the center of each pumpkin, tops and bottoms. On the top pumpkin, drill the hole right behind the stem so to hide it if a piece sticks out in the end.

7. Using the holes to guide you, place the pumpkins onto the dowel and bring them down to the bottom.

8. To make them look as straight as possible, spin them around if needed until everything looks just right. Keep in mind that the fern will make this a bit more difficult because it’s obviouly not a flat surface. However, it really isn’t that hard, and I think it looks great!

9. Trim off any remaining dowel that is sticking out on top with shears.

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