Week 9 - Hand Pollination

Lots of rain over the last two weeks, which has resulted in more plant growth. The squash, tomatoes, cucumbers and strawberries are all starting to flower.

I was given some advice regarding the pollination of the squash flowers. For the fruit to appear the female flowers need to be pollinated. It is possible to let nature take its course and let insects perform the pollination but this can be a little hit and miss due to the short time the flowers are blooming.

This article describes the process of hand pollination and includes pictures to show the differences between the male and female flowers.

Other work performed this weekend was to fertilize the  bed using a seaweed fertilizer and replenish the snail baits as they deteriorate after rain. The baits are required as the number of snails has increased dramatically since we have had so much rain.