Flowers are at their glorious best over the weeks ahead. Perennials and annuals bring a wide range of colours to the flower borders while shrubs and trees are scattered with blossom at higher levels. But it’s not just the flower garden that is in bloom. We rely on plenty of flowers and good pollination to get the best from all sorts of fruits: apples, pears, plums, strawberries, currants and berries, to name a few. Tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, aubergines and courgettes are all fruits too, although we often think of them as vegetables when they sit on our plates. The important thing isn’t a name, it’s to give those fruiting flowers the best chance to pollinate and grow some delectable edible treats.

Pollination in the greenhouse and polytunnel

Tomatoes have flowers open now and some may even have set small green fruitlets. Flowers are self-fertile, but lowest trusses can be slower to set fruits than higher ones. Spray overhead with a fine mist of water to give them the best chance – this lightly dampens pollen rather than soaking it. Peppers are self-fertile so they don’t need insect pollinators. It does help to tap stems gently so pollen falls inside the flower to where it is needed. Aubergine flowers can be slow to set fruit. Insects help with pollination, but if there aren’t many bees buzzing around, then use an artist’s paintbrush to carry pollen from flower to flower. Courgettes need a male flower open at the same time as a female one (male flowers are on thin stems, female have a small courgette shape swelling behind them). First flowers can be slow to set fruit – pick a male flower with dry pollen and use this to pollinate the female ones. Later prolific flowering may set more fruits than you want!

First tomato flowers set fruit if pollen is slightly damp

A note on netting

I have wire netting doors that close over the openings in my polytunnel. The mesh is 25mm which is big enough for bees and other pollinators to get through, but small enough to keep out rodents and larger butterflies and moths. This means my strawberries don’t get munched by mice or birds and brassicas aren’t destroyed by caterpillars. I’ve watched bumble bees pass in and out, just to be sure I’m not barring them or trapping them inside. Soft fruit bushes and strawberry beds outdoors should be covered with netting if you want to get the best of your fruit. Make sure the mesh size is big enough for pollinators to pass through. Also make sure there aren’t any gaps that birds can get through and not find a way out again or, worse still, get tangled in loose netting.

Flower borders

There are lots of flowers in plugs or pots that you can buy to fill out your flower borders. If you see plants growing well year-after-year, in other gardens nearby, then these old reliables will probably do well in your garden. Look at labels on pots to see what the flowering period is expected to be. Some flower early and others late. Aim for a spread through the months so you have some bit of colour right through to late autumn. You can always ask for help in a garden centre. Annuals will only flower for one year. Perennials come back year after year. Make the most of a balance between the two and be a little experimental with what you choose to grow. Do beware however – some plants are magnets for slugs and snails. It can be disappointing to find a new small plant in tatters after a day or two in the ground. Use organic approved slug pellets, or other organic control methods, rather than introduce poisons into your soil. Small tender shoots and emerging leaves are always the tastiest for pests, as the plant grows bigger and stronger it may thrive.

Grass growth is at a peak for the next few weeks and mowing comes around faster than you might imagine. Cut before lots of seed heads form if you want to use clippings as a mulch on garden beds. Leave some patches unmown if you want to encourage wildlife and wildflowers. Keep planting – the vegetable garden isn’t fully set yet. You may still have runner beans to go outdoors and pumpkins and courgettes will do well if planted out now. Sweetcorn is ready to plant in the greenhouse along with aubergines, peppers and melons if you haven’t got these in the border soil already. Broccoli, kale, cauliflower, Brussels sprout and cabbage plants can go in the ground as soon as they are big enough. Keep sowing peas and salad crops and spinach if you want. Give a sowing of beetroot, or Florence fennel a go in a polytunnel if you want autumn crops. Sow parsley now if you want strong winter plants.

Protect Osteospermum varieties from slugs