Flower Density Improves Tomato Yield

Dear Gardeners,  Last season we encouraged gardeners to plant flowers, for pollination and beauty’s sake.  Now, a study done in San Francisco’s community gardens and urban setting has shown that flower density has a significant impact on tomato yield.  I’m sure we can extrapolate to other vegetables.

Even more surprising, neither the size of the garden nor the amount of green space in the surrounding area impacted the amount of pollinator service a plant received. Instead, the key factor was the “floral resource density,” or the abundance of flowers present within the garden in which the tomato plant was located. The more densely flowers were grown within each garden, the higher the yield of tomatoes.

Here is the link to the entire article. http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-02/sfsu-upg021215.php

Let’s continue to include flowers in our garden plans!  See you tomorrow afternoon.  Ellen