Melinda Stanfield, Lot #2, presented a very knowledgeable and enjoyable talk during last Friday’s social hour at 3 pm. As an experienced gardener, when her zucchinis were flowering but not producing any fruit, she researched the problem. She discovered the sun was not reaching them early in the morning when the bees do most of their work visiting both female and male plants to accomplish pollination. Melinda became like the busy bees and visited the plants daily, transferring pollen from the male blossoms to the female herself with a small brush and, Eureka!!, baby zucchinis resulted. Using slides, she shared different ways flowers and fruit are pollinated by insects and even hummingbirds.
Did you know honey bees are an invasive species brought to this country from Europe? They now have become important due to the method of mass gardening; hives are trucked into large orchards to maintain our food supply.
And corn should be planted in rows; the more rows, the better. Pollination is a result of wind blowing male pollen from the tassels onto the female silk. Male sex cells move down each silk to meet a single egg which matures into a single kernel of corn.
Appreciation was shown to Melinda with a specially designed garden green T-shirt. More T-shirts will be available.
The Community Garden Group will continue to hold educational sessions on the 4th Fridays of the month. Plan to attend future fun, educational events. Watch for the announcement of subjects during the coming months.
It was an interesting and fun presentation! Thank you Melinda.