You have been carving pumpkins for years and know all there is to know about this classic Halloween decorating essential, right? Well, there might be two important steps that you are skipping over that make a big difference in how long your jack-o-lantern will last.
On WFSB's
Better Connecticut I demonstrate a little trick that will help keep your jack-o-lantern aglow for longer than a couple of nights using these two unlikely items:
Click
HERE to watch my Better Gardens segment on Halloween Pumpkins.
1. Draw the jack-o-lantern face on a pumpkin. I tried to draw Olaf from Disney's
Frozen.
2. Remove all of the seeds from the inside- I think using a metal spoon works best.
3. Mix one teaspoon of bleach per gallon of water to create a water bath for your carved pumpkin. This kills all of the bacteria that causes the initial deterioration of a pumpkin. Sorry that I don't have a pic of this- but you can watch me cleaning my pumpkin in a video
HERE.
4. Use Petroleum jelly to seal in moisture everywhere you carved. Moisture loss is what would lead my Olaf to looking like a pumpkin puddle instead of a pumpkin snowman after a couple of days.
5. Here is my Olaf jack-o-lantern- clean, moisturized and ready for a candle tonight! Wow, is this a blog post about pumpkin carving or a romance novel for pumpkins?
Have fun carving this year and try this trick to help keep your jack-o-lanterns around longer!
If you would like to contact me, please visit
www.juliesharrison.com and contact me there! I'm on twitter now so send me a tweet @JulieSHarrison
xoxo Julie