Garden Tips: Watching Pumpkins Grow in Pacific Palisades

By BRUCE SCHWARTZ | Contributing Writer

I have been planting giant pumpkins for the last few years here in Pacific Palisades. I have had some good years and some bad years.

Take last year, for example. The pumpkin patch I had in front of Vons and Palisades Electric was destroyed by a woman who decided to roll in the patch and break them open.

Somebody also stopped and helped themself to several pumpkins when they were only basketball size, as this variety—Big Max—are delicious to eat when young and tender.

I had one year where I planted them behind Palisades Electric, and between the raccoons, rabbits, rats and possums, they ate the crop when the pumpkins were the size of golf balls.

For the last three years I have been planting them in front of a house on Almar Drive. The residents of the house are well-known Palisadians, and I am grateful they allow me to grow them there.

We have had pretty good luck, and the neighbors love watching them grow. We donate the pumpkins to the Simon Meadow Pumpkin Patch, which serves as one of two major fundraisers Palisades-Malibu YMCA hosts each year, along with the Tree Lot.

This year, in addition to growing them on Almar, I am growing them on Theatre Palisades’ property below the mural on Temescal Canyon Road. The good news is it has a fence, so hopefully the critters won’t destroy the crop.

One of the things that is amazing is watching people watch the pumpkins grow. I was an agricultural consultant for 20 years in the Central Valley. I have looked over 1,000s of acres of different crops in my career, such as cotton, carrots, onions, melons, watermelons, lettuce, grapes, almonds and others.

I like to grow giant pumpkins here because residents love it. It is a great example of the power of plants and a testament of the beauty of nature itself, and how much our life depends on strong agriculture and the plants that grow the food that feeds us all.

When people keep track of their progress and see how fast a tiny pumpkin turns into a 100-pound pumpkin, they are amazed.

I must say that knowing the world of agriculture, when less than 3% of the population in the USA is involved in agriculture, is a blessing. I have been told that I ought to teach a course in agriculture because I have such a good understanding of our agriculture system.

What also inspires me to grow these giant pumpkins is the look on the faces of both children and adults when the pumpkins are in the back of my pickup, as well as the children and adults sitting in the back of the pickup with the giant pumpkins, getting their photo taken at the Pumpkin Patch. It is the spirit of the fall season, and I am so glad to be a part of that function.

Let’s hope for good growing luck and that we make a huge crop for all to enjoy. Stay tuned to this column to track the progress.

Bruce Schwartz is a 24-year resident of the Palisades Highlands. He was an agricultural consultant for 20 years, specializing in soil nutrition for crops grown in the Central Valley. He was named Pacific Palisades’ Citizen of the Year in 2017 and a Golden Sparkplug award winner in 2013, and is a member of several community organizations. To reach Schwartz, call 310-779-1773 or email bruceschwartz@rodeore.com.