So much of our focus is spent on the plants that grow the produce we want to harvest, we often neglect to include flowers in our vegetable garden. Pollinators are vital to your garden to help fruits set and propagate. Some pollinators also help control bad pests from your attacking your garden. Some flowers work double duty – attracting pollinators, being edible, and being great companion plants.
What Are Pollinators?
Bees, butterflies, hummingbirds and even other insects like ants can pollinate your garden. Bees are the most effective for vegetables and fruits specifically. Bubblebees are especially good as they buzz pollinate – the vibration helps the pollen distribute across multiple flowers at once.
What Attracts Pollinators?
You can encourage more pollinators by choosing brightly colored flowers, and by offering staggered flowering plants so there is always something for them throughout the season.
If you grow herbs in the garden you can let these go to flower which will help add more flowers and a reason to visit.
To help attract pollinators, you can offer a shallow dish filled with water and pebbles as a landing spot and place to refresh.
Avoid using pesticides were possible. Organic products like Neem oil are effective at controlling pests and won’t harm pollinators.
What Are Good Companion Flowers?
- Marigolds are the classic garden companion flower. Plant these around tomatoes, squash and brassicas to attract pollinators and other beneficial insects. Their strong scent can confuse bad insects and prevent them from staying.
- Nasturtiums are another classic garden flower and they are also edible. These are great to tuck in a corner and allow to cascade.
- Zinnias are pollinator magnets with their large long-lasting blooms. These flowers are great cut for displays and attract both bees and butterflies.
- Sunflowers are unmistakable in the garden. They attract bees and later in the season can feed birds or be harvested for the seeds. Shorter varieties are also great in cut flower arrangements.
What Are The Signs Of Low Pollination?
We saw signs of low pollination last year with our cucumbers. Many of the cucumbers were only partially pollinated which resulted in curly cucumbers or cucumbers that didn’t grow and started to rot on the vine. There are many factors that can reduce the ability for a plant to pollinate. If there is a lot of rain, pollinators might not be visiting. Male and female flowers may not be open at the same time, so even if they are visited, the plant is not able to be pollinated. Some species like apple trees require cross pollination from a different variety of apple tree.
How Else Can I Increase Pollination?
One way to increase the likelihood of pollination is to do it manually. This is easy to do with crops that have larger flowers such as summer squash. You can locate a male flower and rub the stamen in the female flower. For some plants, you can help by shaking the plant very gently or use a soft paint brush on each flower to imitate the actions of a bee.
Other way is to choose plant varieties that don’t require pollination, such as Parthenocarpic plants. This means they can set fruit when pollinators are sparse, the weather is poor, or in greenhouse conditions. These varieties are usually seedless. We are growing a parthenocarphic cucumber this year to see how it performs compared to our regular non-partenocarphic cucumbers. See everything that we are growing this year here!
