The perfect pumpkin: Gardening pro offers tips on harvesting, storing, carving and more



MILWAUKEE -- It's pumpkin picking season! But how do you know if you're getting a good one? And what can you do with it when you bring it home? Gardening pro Melinda Myers explains how to pick a pumpkin in the field, how to select a good one if they've already been harvested, how to store a pumpkin and ways to make it last as long as possible after carving.

She's also offering some fun ways to use pumpkins, including carving them out for flower planters, doing a crayon-dripped decorated project or even a pumpkin keg!

More info on the projects can be found on Melinda's website.

You can also go see Melinda at the Milwaukee NARI Fall Home & Remodeling Show this weekend. She's presenting "Fall Planting and Prep for a Beautiful Spring Garden" Saturday at 2 p.m. That's at the Wisconsin Exposition Center at State Fair Park.

About Melinda Myers (from website)

Nationally known gardening expert, TV/radio host, author & columnist Melinda Myers has over 30 years of horticulture experience and has written over 20 gardening books, including Can’t Miss Small Space Gardening, the Midwest Gardener's Handbook, and Jackson and Perkins’ Beautiful Roses Made Easy. She hosts the nationally-syndicated “Melinda’s Garden Moment” program airing on over 115 TV and radio stations throughout the U.S. Melinda also hosts the internationally distributed Great Courses “How to Grow Anything” DVD series, including the latest Food Gardening for Everyone DVD set. She is a columnist and contributing editor for Birds & Blooms magazine, writes the twice monthly “Gardeners’ Questions” newspaper column, a regular column for Chicagoland Gardening and Wisconsin Gardening magazines and a nationally-distributed gardening column. She appears regularly as a guest expert on national and local television and radio shows.