This DIY Pumpkin Topsy Turvy Planter is a cute front porch decorating idea that’s so easy to make. Filled with fall mums, this pumpkin planter display adds the perfect touch to your fall porch decor!

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We did a thing the other day here at the lake and I’ve been chomping at the bit ever since to share it with you. As much as I wanted to post this DIY Pumpkin Topsy Turvy Planter idea for the world to see, I contained myself for the pure fact that the rest of my fall front porch decor was still a work in progress. 

After getting my fall porch decor up and styled this weekend, I’m finally able to share this easy DIY Pumpkin Topsy Turvy Planter. Coming from someone who has very little experience with gardening and plants, I can honestly say this pumpkin planter was a cinch to put together. The real test will be how well I can maintain the mums inside them…#Ikillallplants

What I love about projects like this is the fact that they can easily be customizable to fit your needs. Projects like this DIY Pumpkin Topsy Turvy Planter are more about learning the process behind it and less about recreating it identically. 

Before you freak out, though, I know some of you feel like you lack creativity and could never customize something like this. I personally think you could, but if you want to recreate this exact same pumpkin planter feel free to do so. Simply do what works best for you. I’m here to help you with whichever road you choose to travel on. 

So before I share the exact process we followed to make these adorable pumpkin planters, I’d like to talk about supplies. Hopefully, this section will help give you some additional ideas to customize one of these planters to add to your own fall front door decor.

The Base

The base is obviously one of the most important pieces of this pumpkin planter because it is responsible for bearing the weight of the entire plant tower. The most important thing to know when choosing a base for your DIY Pumpkin Topsy Turvy Planter is that it must be larger than all the other planters you use in your tower.

We used a barrel for our base. Although I couldn’t find the exact one, here is a similar barrel planter. 

The possibilities are endless for what you can use. A plastic planter, terra cotta pot, or even a metal planter will work. Pick what works best with your fall outdoor decor!

The Pumpkins

Finding plastic Halloween pumpkins for this project actually turned out to be the most difficult step in this entire process. I wanted actual plastic pumpkins like these, but they were nowhere to be found at any of the stores we searched. And we hit up a ton! I think the reason for this was most likely because it was a little too early in the season. Stores were just starting to put up their Halloween decor and the traditional Halloween plastic pumpkins weren’t on the shelves yet. 

I compromised by using similar orange plastic Halloween buckets to these from the dollar section of Target. I turned them around so the front appeared orange even though there was a Halloween message on the back. One of the positive things about using buckets instead of the traditional plastic orange pumpkins is they fit into one another for easy storage. That way, if I want to use the same Halloween pails next year they can be easily stored. 

One more thing, the number of pumpkins you decide on for your tower is up to you. We went with four Halloween buckets for each of our pumpkin planters.

The Support

Although you can’t see it from the photos, there is a vertical stake support holding up the entire Pumpkin Topsy Turvy Planter. I used two of these sturdy stakes taped together that I found in the garden section of Home Depot. Rebar is another sturdy option you can use. Even a thick wooden dowel would work as long as you can find one long enough. 

Just remember these few things when you’re picking a support piece for your pumpkin tower:

It needs to be sturdy BUT also can’t be too thick in diameter to fit through the bottoms of your pumpkins. 

How long of a support do you need?

In order to figure this out, we first measured the height of our base. With that done, we measured the length of one Halloween bucket. We took the bucket measurement and multiplied that by four since we wanted our pumpkin planters to be four buckets high. We added those two numbers together and got a height of a little over 3 ft high. 

We were lucky to find stakes that were 3 feet tall so that’s what we went with. This was a great height because it went all the way through the four pumpkin buckets without the stake sticking out at the top.

Be careful not to buy something too short that won’t fit through all your plastic pumpkins. If you buy something too long, make sure it’s in a material that you would be able to cut down to size if need be. For us, our tool collection is pretty minimal so we tried our best to get a length that worked without us having to do any cutting. 

With all that out of the way, it’s time for me to share how Patrick and I put together our two pumpkin planters. 

DIY Pumpkin Topsy Turvy Planter

Here are the materials we used to make one pumpkin planter:

base, red lava rocks, 2 sturdy stakes (3 feet tall), masking tape, 4 Halloween buckets, 4 fall mums, potting soil

Step 1: Remove the handles from your Halloween pumpkins or buckets.

Step 2: Grab your support stake(s). We took two and taped them together because we wanted to make sure the pumpkin planters had enough support.

Step 3: With a drill, carefully make a hole in the bottom of your pumpkin or bucket. Caution! Make sure you do this slowly and don’t apply too much pressure. We learned the hard way that the bucket will easily crack if you apply too much force. The good news is, we were still able to use the cracked buckets so if you do happen to mess up you should still be okay.

Step 4: With all the prep work done, it’s time to get your base ready to go. We chose to fill our bucket with red lava rock all the way to the top. You can use all rock like we did or do half rock/half soil. If you decide to do half and half, add the rocks on the bottom and then the soil on top. With the soil on the top, you could plant more mums or flowers if you wanted.

Note: Make sure you add your stake in the base first and then pour in the rock and/or soil. We poured all our rock in first and it was TOUGH digging our stake into the base. I recommend having one person holding the stake in place while the other person drops in the rock and/or soil.

Step 5: Slip on your first Halloween plastic pumpkin or bucket. Set it so it’s on a tilt.

Step 6: Add your mum inside your pumpkin.

Step 7: Carefully add additional potting soil to fill your Halloween bucket.

Step 8: Add on your next bucket and your next mum. Fill the leftover space with soil.

Step 9: Repeat the process for the rest of the Halloween buckets until you’ve filled them all.

Here’s a quick time-lapse video we took to show the process of making one of these DIY Pumpkin Topsy Turvy Planters. Pardon the fact that I was walking back and forth a couple of times…I had to grab the fall mums for Patrick!

For two very uneducated gardeners, this DIY Pumpkin Topsy Turvy Planter was a really easy project to put together. Other than me busting Patrick’s chops that the towers were a little uneven, we actually made it through the whole process without killing one another. That’s a win-win in my book. Happy Planting!

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