Have your squash or cucumber plants ever bloomed like crazy, only for the tiny fruits to shrivel and drop off? It's one of the most frustrating sights in the garden, and very often the cause is simple: not enough pollinators. The good news is there's an easy and beautiful fix. In this post, you'll learn why vegetables need pollinators, which flowers bring them in, and how to work flowers into your vegetable beds.
Why do vegetables need pollinators?
Many vegetables need pollen moved from flower to flower to set fruit. Squash, cucumbers, melons and pumpkins are the big ones. They have separate male and female flowers, and bees carry pollen between them. If a female flower isn't pollinated well, the little fruit behind it yellows and falls off, or grows lopsided.
Other crops, like tomatoes, peppers and beans, are self-pollinating, but they still benefit from visiting bees and a little wind shaking the flowers.
Why aren't the bees finding my garden?
Vegetable flowers are often small, short-lived or tucked under leaves. Squash flowers, for example, open in the morning and close by afternoon. A garden full of only vegetables can be easy for pollinators to overlook, especially early in the season. Adding flowers gives them a reason to visit and stay.
Which flowers attract the most pollinators?
- Autumn Beauty Sunflower (about 100 days): tall, multi-colored blooms that bees love, plus seeds for the birds in fall. Plant on the north side of the garden so they don't shade shorter crops.
- Carpet of Snow Alyssum: low, fragrant edging that blooms for months and attracts hoverflies and tiny wasps that eat aphids.
- Purple Coneflower: a hardy perennial that's a bee and butterfly favorite from midsummer into fall.
- Herbs left to bloom: Dill, cilantro, basil and oregano flowers are all pollinator magnets.
- Marigolds: Cheerful and easy, they bring in helpful insects and add bright color between vegetable rows.
How to add flowers to your vegetable garden
- Plant within the beds: Don't just plant flowers along the fence. Tuck clumps between vegetable rows and at the ends of beds so pollinators move through your crops.
- Bloom from spring to fall: Choose a mix of early, midseason and late bloomers so there's always something flowering.
- Plant in groups: A patch of the same flower is easier for bees to spot than single plants scattered around.
- Go easy on sprays: Many pesticides harm bees. If you need to treat a pest, spray in the evening when bees aren't active, and avoid spraying open flowers.
- Provide water: A shallow dish with pebbles gives bees a safe place to drink on hot days.
What if fruit still isn't setting?
You can hand-pollinate squash and cucumbers in a pinch. In the morning, find a male flower (on a thin stem) and a female flower (with a tiny fruit at its base). Use a small paintbrush or remove the male flower's petals and gently dab its pollen onto the center of the female flower.
Also check the weather. Very hot spells, cold snaps or long stretches of rain can all slow pollination for a while, and plants usually catch up once conditions improve.
A few crops that benefit most
- Black Beauty Zucchini (about 50 to 60 days): heavy-producing plants that need good pollination to keep fruit coming.
- Marketmore Cucumber (about 55 to 65 days): a reliable slicer that sets more fruit with plenty of bee traffic.
Make room for a few flowers
Giving up a few feet of garden space to flowers doesn't mean less food. It often means more, along with a garden that's prettier and buzzing with life. All our seeds are non-GMO and USA grown, and I pack them myself here in Minnesota. Browse our heirloom flower seeds to get started.
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