Sara's Garden MarketSustainable Living, Gardening, Flowers, and Food

If you have a hard time getting things pollinated in your garden I highly recommend planting cilantro!

First of all it’s super easy to grow, seeds go right into the dirt and keep moist until they are sprouted.

Second, cilantro is very tasty in soups, salads, and salsa!

Third and most wonderful, if you plant a lot and let it flower your garden will be full of bees!!!! And we all know the pollinating power of bees! This year I have a 4′ row of solid cilantro and bees galore! Almost ever blossom of tomato, and peppers and eggplant and zucchini have been pollinated! In previous years I have had to do the zucchini and some peppers by hand. It’s so much better to have the bees do it!

If you haven’t yet discovered how essential bees are to our food sources please visit

http://environment.about.com/od/biodiversityconservation/a/honeybees.htm

or read up on honey bees and the *essential* role they play in our food supply!

Thanks for stopping by!

Sara Murray

I finally got my tomatoes to blossom indoors!

Now for some pollination. I may have missed the boat on a few flowers which have already closed, but I have hopefully pollinated the rest. My pollinator of choice: a spoon. Lots of people use a tooth pick or similar point structure. I prefer a spoon so I can see and catch the pollen and make sure it sticks to the stamens to transfer it! 🙂

Happy pollinating!

Maybe next year I will just put my seed starting shelf right in my green house. Never mind that I will have to shovel feet of snow to get to it!!!

Thanks for stopping by!

~Sara