AUTUMN: Make Peat Pot Pumpkin Stems

 

I was cleaning out my gardening tools storage area, and came across a stack of small peat pots / seed starter pots in a bucket. The bottom pot was a bit damp, and when I picked it up, I accidentally squished it - and an idea hit me!

With a little bit more water and some experimentation, I turned those peat pots into stems for various pumpkins - it's a little bit like working with paper clay or papier mache'.

Continue reading for my easy tutorial... 

DWK
TUTORIAL

Materials:
Small / Medium sized peat plant pots ('seed starter pots')
A shallow bowl of warm water
Vinyl placemat to protect your work surface
Small hand towel to wipe up drips!

Method:

1.  Gather your supplies and set up your work area with the vinyl placemat beneath the bowl of warm water. (* You don't need the scissors shown - they were for another idea I had, but it didn't work out)

2. Immerse 1-2 pots at a time into the warm water - roll them on their sides to get all of the pot wet.

3. Then sit the pots upright in the bowl, making sure that they are filled with warm water. This step helps the pots soak up a lot of water quickly. 

Let sit in the water for @ 3-4 minutes.
Remove from water, but hold the drippy pot over the water while you take the next steps....

4. Wrap your hand around one pot at a time, and gently squeeze the sides together. You want the sides to fold in on themselves, creating grooves and raised areas. 

5. - 6. Use your thumb to press down on the top of the stem (which is the bottom of the pot) to flatten it a bit, like a pumpkin stem. I prefer them at a bit of an angle, as shown. 

7. When the water drips stop as you squeeze, stand or lay each stem onto the vinyl placemat to dry. 

8. - 9. Make sure that the bottom end of the stem isn't closed off - you want it to be open so it will be stable when you place it onto a pumpkin. Gently open it with your thumb if it is too small.

I had planned to make a new kind of pumpkin to put these stems on, but some things came up and I ran out of time... so I grabbed some glass light globes that I have on hand, and added them to the tops of those:

The stem on the round amber glass vase simply sits on top of the inverted vase. The stem on the white glass light globe is tucked into the small hole on top, at an angle. While small, the texture of the peat pots really give a natural look to pumpkins of any kind.

After adding some books with orange covers for height, and some leaves cut out from painted book pages, The display brought a warm autumn glow to the credenza in my studio...

I tucked a tiny strand of LED lights into the globes and behind the books to add more warmth... a faux battery operated candle would give an even brighter effect! 

Where to find pretty glass globes: It's getting harder to find antique ones, but it's worth the search! I check my local Habitat for Humanity Re-Stores, small thrift shops, garage sales, and in a pinch I know that Lowes and Home Depot carry some basic white ribbed glass globes all year 'round. And, as I did above, you can always use a round glass vase turned upside down. 

I hope you'll give this easy idea a try this autumn - let me know what kind of pumpkins you put them on!

Related Content:


My Original Glass Globe Pumpkins TM in 2011


New Versions Published in Country Sampler's Farmhouse Style Magazine in 2024


Shared Online: 

Funky Junk Interiors | New Upcycle Ideas #851


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