Hand Pollinate your squash/zucchini plants

Some plants have flowers that have both the male and female parts in the same flower and some plants have separate male and female flowers.

One example of separate male and female flowers is the Squash and Zucchini plants. The pollen from the male flower needs to make it over to a flower that's a female in order for you to get a crop. This is why bees are a big help in gardens!

If you don't seem to see a bunch of bees helping you out, you can hand pollinate your plants.

First find some female flowers.

How you can tell is the female has behind the flower what looks like a very small squash or zucchini. Even if you see this, if you don't pollinate, that fruit won't grow to harvestable size.

Next, find the male flower

This has just a thin stem on it. You can then take a q-tip and get some pollen off of the male and rub it on the female. I don't have a great picture of this, as I shot these in the evening when the flowers were closed.

Good luck with your garden, I hope you have lots of produce for your labor!