No, it’s not the latest dance craze. It’s what certain plants in your
vegetable garden need to set fruit: a good shaking. Yes, it has to do
with sex, er, pollination and plants can sometimes need a little help.
But what it really has to do with is better yields come harvest time. So
let’s get ready to pollinate!
Not a year goes by when we don’t hear someone complain that their
tomatoes, cucumbers, or squash didn’t set fruit. Oh, the plants grew
like crazy and blossomed to beat the band but when it came time to
produce? Little or no fruiting occurred. We’ve even had this happen
ourselves, usually after relocating to a different part of the country.
When we’re asked what went wrong, we realize (doh!) that we didn’t do
what needed to be done, that’s when we remember hand pollination. Now
that July has arrived and gardens around the country are beginning to
flower, it’s time to pollinate. (For those of you in cooler climates or
whose gardens might be a bit behind schedule this year, here’s hoping
that your blossoms are soon to show.)
What’s hand pollination? It’s the process of helping Mother Nature along
in her attempts to bring fruits, even if those fruits are vegetables.
Tomatoes, peppers, egg plants, cucumbers, melons, and the like often
need some help from you. Let’s start with tomatoes.
Read more here
No comments:
Post a Comment