I got very ahead of myself on making some Halloween decorations this year, I made pumpkin planters on September 21st :P Of course I was so excited about them I didn't even look up any guidelines on how to do the thing properly. I gutted them, hosed them down, and put the dirt and plants directly packed inside. After hours of etching them and admiring them I decided to look up how long they would last and was HORRIBLY disappointed by the answer.. which was MAX 9 days and less if you tried to put the dirt directly in. Well I'm happy to say I'm on day 10 or 11 and they show no sign of rot. They are still firm as can be!

I'm convinced they've lasted this long because of the solution I sprayed them down with, which is the same stuff we use to keep bugs out of the yard and just happened to be attached to the hose at the time. the solution is 4 parts EcoSmart Insect Killer (Walmart) 2 parts dish soap and 1 part neem oil delivered through a hose diluter thingy. I think the main ingredient on the Insect killer is Peppermint oil.

Hope someone finds this useful, I'm so shocked at how well they're hanging in i just had to share!