One of the delights of this moment of the year in the greenhouse is my dwarf nectarine, in a pot on the sunniest side. It is true that spring is starting to show itself elsewhere: I have a collection of pots and plugs of seed compost on the greenhouse bench that are showing little signs of life, and there are daffodils blooming and buds starting to green up on the plants outside in the garden…but the nectarine in the greenhouse is in full party mode, bursting its beautiful strong pink buds as if spring really is here to stay.
The trouble is that the greenhouse is lacking one thing that really brings the spring party: bees. There are few enough in the garden right now, and even if it was planted outside my nectarine would be lucky to be visited by one of those early bumblers, buzzing around bleary eyed and struggling to find their bearings. Indoors there are zero bees, and so no chance of pollination at all. Without bees and other pollinating insects there will simply be no fruits; it is that speck of pollen carried from another flower or another plant alighting on the nectarine’s stigma that kick starts the whole intricate process that leads to the swelling of plant ovaries and the forming of fruits, and without that tiny but crucial intervention, none of that will happen. It is time for me to step in with my paintbrush.
This is a task that is easily overlooked throughout the year in the greenhouse. As the weather warms and we start to leave the door and window open we do get more flying insects in there, but almost as soon as they have found their way in they start panicking to get out – it is not the leisurely flitting from bloom to bloom that they do outside. And so it is best not to leave it to chance. Tomatoes too really benefit from this, and in the greenhouse you will get far more fruits from a hand pollinated tomato plant than from one left to its own devices or the attentions of straying bees. Shaking a tomato plant can release pollen from higher flowers which drifts down and pollinates lower flowers, but this is greatly helped with the use of an electric toothbrush, of all things. Tomato flowers release pollen as a response to the buzzing of bees, and the vibrations of the electric toothbrush can mimic that. Hold the electric toothbrush against the stem near to the flowers, rather than on the flowers themselves, and buzz the stem to make it vibrate. You can then switch off the brush and use it to gently dab at the centres of the flowers, passing pollen from flower to flower.
No such trick is needed with nectarines though. For them I use a soft tipped paintbrush and just dab at the centres of the flowers, all very genteel. You want to transfer pollen from the stamens – the ring of little sticks with yellow blobs on the end – to the stigma in the middle of the flower. I am not convinced that the flowers on mine are actually producing pollen yet as the stamens do not look yellow and powdery, but it is a good idea to do it anyway as soon as you notice flowers, and then to come back and do it again every few days. More flowers will open in this time anyway, and this way you are bound to catch them at the right stage, or thereabouts. Keep your paintbrush and your toothbrush to hand all summer long for the best possible yields.
