Boys and Girls in the Garden

Our wet spring means many gardens here in the Treasure Valley are a little behind what we normally expect to see. A common question people have is about squash/cucumber/melon plants. There are a lot of flowers but no fruit.

That’s the way Mother Nature designed it. There are male flowers and female flowers on each plant. It seems counter-intuitive that flowers are boys. The male flowers usually appear first.

The female flowers already have a little fruit (ovary) at the base of the bloom.

Be patient. It all works out with the help of bees, beetles and any other critters crawling around the flowers.

Did you know there are bees that specifically pollinate squash plants? Commonly called “squash bees.”  Look at their cute striped pajama butts. I caught this pair busy one morning.

~Debbie