Veggies for Pollinators

Veggies for Pollinators

Did you know your vegetable garden can support pollinators? Of course flowers are great to grow in and around your garden, but vegetables have flowers too, and many of our favorite crops like squash, cucumbers, peppers and tomatoes depend on them to produce fruit.

Tomatoes, Tomatillos and Peppers: While nightshade flowers can self-pollinate through shaking or wind, visits from bumblebees and other pollinators dramatically improve overall yields and fruit size. And native bees seem to love pollinating them! 

Cucurbits like Cucumbers, melons, Squash and Zucchini are monoecious: It is important for pollinators to transport pollen between blooms for these vines to form full, healthy vegetables rather than shriveling. Monoecious plants produce separate male and female flowers and rely heavily on bees (like native squash bees) to transfer pollen and set fruit. Squash bees love to sleep in the blooms. 

Okra has "perfect" hermaphroditic flowers (containing both male and female parts) and can self-pollinate without any help from insects or wind. However, they are heavily visited by pollinators, such as honeybees, bumblebees, wild/solitary bees, butterflies, and beetles, which significantly boost fruit size, pod quantity, and seed quality through cross-pollination.

Herbs like basil, cilantro, oregano  and sage all produce flowers with dozens of blooms that attract pollinators ad beneficial insects in droves.

Veggies for Pollinators
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New Seeds for peppers and tomatoes - Seed packets

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