From squash skulls to pumpkin owls, there’s no end to the squash-tastic creations you can make to celebrate Halloween. But that excitement quickly fades as you watch the pumpkin that took you forever to carve wither away on your porch. It’s inevitable that your pumpkins will rot, but we’ve rounded up some handy tips that will keep your crafty carvings intact for longer. Make sure to clean out the inside of your pumpkin as much as possible. Since they’re moist, any bit of exposed pumpkin guts will start to mould quickly. Clean the surface of the veggie and the interior with a teaspoon of bleach per one quart of water. This will sterilise the gourd, killing any existing bacteria. Let it dry fully before you start carving. Give it a bleach-water bath after you carve it. The bleach comes into play again post-carving, giving it an extra-good cleansing. Submerge your creation in a bucket filled with water and two to three cups of bleach. Leave it there for up to 24 hours to let the pumpkin soak in the bleach solution. Apply petroleum jelly. As an extra layer of protection, put Vaseline on the carved edges. This will keep them moisturised and prevent the edges from drying out too fast. If you don’t have Vaseline, vegetable oil works too. But since all two are flammable, avoid putting a real candle inside your pumpkin – use a flameless votive instead. Don’t put on the jelly before you clean the pumpkin with bleach, either. Since the jelly is trapping the moisture in the vegetable, it will trap in the bacteria along with it if you didn’t clean the gourd first. Don’t carve it. We know, not carving your pumpkin sounds tragic. But an untouched pumpkin will stay fresher for a longer period of time compared to a carved one. As an alternative, try our favourite pumpkin painting and no-carve ideas.