Don’t Let Fruit Go to Waste: Volunteer Groups Help Harvest for Good

By Ecoyards | August 25, 2009
Several red apples hang from the branches of an apple tree with green leaves against a blue sky background.

Every year, thousands of pounds of fruit fall to the ground and rot. Homeowners who grow apples, plums, cherries, pears or other fruit often find that they can’t keep up with their fruit harvest, and they can only give away so much of their bounty to neighbors and co-workers. The Seattle Times has a good story in today’s newspaper about a volunteer group called City Fruit that helps homeowners deal with the overabundance of fruit…

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Why Your Vegetable Plants Aren’t Setting Fruit — Causes and Easy Pollination Solutions

By Ecoyards | August 19, 2009
Close-up of a bright yellow flower with ruffled petals, growing from green stems in soil, photographed in natural light.

So your vegetable plants are growing luscious and green and are producing a fair amount of flowers, but for some reason you’re not getting fruit set. No pumpkins, squash, ears of corn or tomatoes. What’s going on? A key problem is pollination. Your plant either hasn’t been pollinated at all, or has been insufficiently pollinated. Cucumbers, melons and squash have both male and female blossoms on the same plant (with the exception of some varieties).…

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