SEX in the garden...

Well now, did that get your attention?

I like to say “there are questions a newbie doesn't even know to ask”. That is certainly true about gardening.

It's my second year gardening. As with most of the new things that I am learning & asking questions about, I just start researching.

I actually found this a little humorous, so gentle readers I hope you are not offended. Life on the farm is about sex. Life in the garden is about sex.

Mother nature has a sense of humor when it comes to sex in the garden. Take the yellow crook neck squash.

There are male flowers and female flowers both on the same plant. Sort of like Romeo & Juliet, they are so close, yet so far away.

How do you “sex” a flower? It is really easier than you think.

There are two ways to determine which is which. First we will start with the stem.

Boy stems are straight. Girl stems have a little bulge.

                  

 

Gently pull the petals back and inside what do you see.

Well, check the inside if the inside matches you ah, down below...then that flower is the same sex as you are. A little boy flower looks like a male. The little girl flower looks more like a female.

 

Now, if you remember the birds and the bees talk from when you were younger, the boys have to pollinate the girls for there to be babies; I mean fruit.

There are more boy flowers than girls flowers. If you are having issues with squashes developing on your plant, you may need to assist mother nature.

You take just the inside of a boy flower and sort of jiggle it around inside the girl flower. That allows the pollen to drop inside and fertilize the female flower.

Well evidently my boys and girls have been playing well together, since I have been getting a lot of squash.
But, I certainly learned a valuable lesson today that will help me in my future gardening endeavors. Skills I didn't know I would need for gardening.

What I do here is simply share our preparedness journey. If you liked this post we would love it if you joined our Perky Prepping Gramma community on Facebook, comment or share. Plus it would just make my day.

Items I have used this week:

   

Your order is so very appreciated, because anything ordered through my Amazon Associate links helps me to be able to stay home and write for you. Perky Prepping Gramma is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.