Get to grips with pollination – your garden (and the bees) will thank you for it

If you're growing any plants for fruit, getting your head around pollination is key to ensuring a bountiful harvest. Thankfully, the plants and the pollinators – whether that's bees, beetles or a summer breeze – have a system for making this happen. Still, any grower should be familiar with the pollination needs of their crops in case intervention is necessary.
If GCSE biology is a distant memory, here's a quick refresher. Pollination is the reproductive process whereby a flower's pollen is transferred from the stamen to the stigma before travelling to the ovule, where fertilisation takes place. Seeds start to develop and, for those crops that coax a creature into dispersing their seed, a fruit will form and swell around them.
Different plants have different pollination requirements and, as such, each can be broadly categorised as either hermaphrodite (also known as perfect), monoecious or dioecious. Hermaphrodite plants contain both pollen-bearing and fruit-bearing parts within their flowers: tomatoes, apples, aubergines and beans and many more fall into this group. This doesn't necessarily mean all perfect flower-producing plants can self-pollinate, though – and even if they do, they're believed to bear more fruit when grown with friends.
Monoecious plants produce separate flowers that bear either pollen or fruit, so tend to need a creature to ensure pollination occurs. Edible examples include winter squash, courgettes and cucumbers. You can tell which flower is which by looking at the stem behind the bloom – the fruit bearer will boast a small, immature fruit while the pollen bearer will not.
The rarest type of plant is the dioecious kind, in which pollen is produced by an entirely separate plant to that which produces the fruit. Not many edible plants reproduce this way. The most notable is the kiwi (although there are monoecious varieties too).
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The majority of plants need a pollinator to do the job. Bumblebees, hoverflies, beetles, butterflies, moths and even birds can act as the intermediary between one plant's reproductive organ and another as they forage for food. Wind is another pollinator and an important one for those who want to grow corn (or limit the spread of dandelions). Planting your corn in a block – as opposed to a row – improves your chance of having juicy cobs to harvest. Even water acts as a pollinator for certain aquatic plants.
If your immature fruit is withering, not swelling, it's likely unsuccessful pollination is your problem. The best solution is to include pollen-rich flowers in your planting plan to attract a range of pollinators. Alternatively, you can act as the pollinator yourself and manually move the pollen from stamen to stigma with a small paintbrush or the tip of your finger.

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The Guardian

an hour ago

• The Guardian

Gardening in a climate crisis: how to be a green thumb when old rules no longer apply

The sun shone on Melbourne's gardens in May – and kept shining. Warm-weather plants that had begun to die back in expectation of winter got a second wind. Basil started sprouting leaves again and roses shot new buds. The state's second-warmest May on record also confounded cold-weather plants starting to make their way out of the ground. Was it time to bloom or sink back underground? Meanwhile, in the state's south-west, dry earth became even drier, and raised the risk of unseasonal fire. At the same time, in coastal parts of New South Wales and Queensland, it didn't just rain but it poured. So as the seasons become more erratic and the climate crisis results in observable changes to our gardens, how should green thumbs respond? How do we know what is going to grow well – and how can we plan for our future gardens when it feels like the old rules no longer apply? There isn't 'a clean, crisp answer' to this question, says Prof Angela Moles, a biologist who heads up the Big Ecology Lab at the University of New South Wales. The lab's mission is to find out how Australian plants are responding to the climate crisis and quantify the factors influencing those changes. 'Different parts of Australia are changing in different ways. Often the dry parts are getting drier and the wet parts are getting wetter, and different species are responding to things very differently,' Moles says. Primarily, they're responding by shifting their distribution. Often that happens in counterintuitive ways, with more than a third of plants moving 'backwards', such as towards the warmer areas where they might be thought to prefer cooler ones. 'We're seeing a lot of reassembly starting to happen, and the speeds at which species are shifting are quite frightening,' Moles says. Globally, plants are altering their range at a rate of about 800 metres per year, mirroring what we know about plant behaviour from the previous ice age. 'Everything's in this wild state of flux.' Sign up to get climate and environment editor Adam Morton's Clear Air column as a free newsletter Around Australia, plants are also changing the way they grow, such as when they flower, when their leaves come out, when they germinate or come up from the ground. That poses particular challenges for horticulture and conservation. 'There are cases where species start flowering earlier, but their pollinators [such as insects and birds] aren't around yet, or their pollinators are coming out even earlier. Pollinators are changing more quickly than the flowers, and that's causing some mismatches,' Moles says. Some of them, too, are going extinct. All this underscores the need to alter gardening and landscaping choices to take into account changing plant behaviour in response to the climate, but it also makes planning for that unpredictable behaviour very difficult. Clare Hart, the director of horticulture at Melbourne's Royal Botanic Gardens, says her team has been working on precisely this problem since 2016, assessing species for climate risk and developing a succession strategy for the gardens' future. 'We're working towards [a projected climate of] 3C warmer, and also [we're] going to have less rainfall … So the plants that we need to grow are from warmer, drier climates,' Hart says. 'We focus on adaptation because mitigation just isn't happening fast enough. And anything we do in an adaptation space will also assist with any mitigation when it does happen – and it needs to happen.' In 2018, the gardens held an international climate change summit, out of which sprung the international Climate Change Alliance of Botanic Gardens. One practical tool developed by that alliance to help with planning, especially for trees, was the climate assessment tool. Available to the public, the tool models the likely suitability of different tree species for a specified location against projected climate scenarios. A new feature of the gardens, the Australian Drylands is 'essentially a great experiment' to assess which native plants might grow well in a warmer, drier Melbourne. Horticulturalists looked north, from the top of NSW across to Western Australia, and collaborated with traditional owners, parks workers and other botanical gardens to understand which plants might suit the coming new normal further south. Hart names kangaroo grass, flame trees, spear lilies, gymea lilies and cycads as just some of the more well-known varieties already showing their versatility and resilience. Look local: what's thriving around you? Moles and Hart recommend walking around your neighbourhood and taking note of the plants that are flourishing, especially if they're native, and where in the garden they are placed. Planting out your nature strip can be a great way to help local ecosystems become more climate resilient, says Moles, as it helps mitigate urban heat pockets, provides habitat and assists in migration routes for plants, birds, animals and insects. Sign up to Clear Air Australia Adam Morton brings you incisive analysis about the politics and impact of the climate crisis after newsletter promotion Consider your microclimate Regardless of where in Australia you live, it helps to learn a bit more about the specific needs of plants, and what you are currently providing them with. 'Understand your soil conditions, understand water, where it comes from, and if you have the opportunity to put in a water tank – things like that really will help you to future proof,' says Hart. Recognise also that 'your microclimate can change quite dramatically, even from neighbour to neighbour,' Hart says. If your garden space is a balcony with a lot of afternoon sun, that may be better suited to growing plants more commonly found hundreds of kilometres further north than those thriving in next door's shady back yard. Consult local experts Hart recommends smaller, local nurseries and Indigenous plant nurseries as good sources of knowledge about plants that will do well in local conditions. Local councils will also often have local plant lists and resources for home gardeners who want to build local habitat. Connecting with community groups can be a useful way to learn about what's doing well in nearby bushland areas. Give plants extra protection when they're young Plants are most vulnerable during their early establishment phase, so try planting them in a context that allows you to give them a bit more care and attention while they're starting out, says Moles. 'Once they're established, they'll be a little bit more robust.' Use free tools and resources The Climate Change Alliance of Botanic Gardens' climate assessment tool can help you find out if the tree you want to plant is likely to thrive or struggle under future climate conditions. Which Plant Where has a database searchable by location and plant type, and allows you to filter results for different types of gardens and plant needs for estimates of climatic suitability in 2030, 2050 and 2070. The Atlas of Living Australia pulls together Australian biodiversity data from multiple sources. Explore your local area and find out to show what plants are growing around you (and which animals have been seen locally, too). The Bureau of Meteorology provides general forecasts for rainfall and temperature up to four months in advance, giving you a rough idea of what conditions are likely for the season ahead. School of Thumb is a horticulture industry-funded video series aimed at less-experienced gardeners, to help them think about their circumstances and the plants that might suit.

Daily Mail​

7 hours ago

• Daily Mail​

Study pinpoints exact number of coffees per day that can cut the risk of sudden cardiac death

A coffee a day might be enough to keep the doctor away. For US researchers have found coffee lovers tend to have healthier hearts, putting them at lower risk of cardiac death. And the benefits can be achieved by drinking just one cup a day, they claimed—but only if they drink it black. Those who drank between two to three cups, however, saw the most benefits, slashing their risk by almost a fifth. The findings, from the study of more than 46,000 people, add to the growing body of evidence highlighting the drink's health benefits. Professor Fang Fang Zhang, a nutrition expert at Tufts University in Boston, said: 'Coffee is among the most-consumed beverages in the world, and with nearly half of American adults reporting drinking at least one cup per day, it's important for us to know what it might mean for health.' Some research has already linked coffee to reducing the risk of heart disease, heart failure and strokes, while other studies report it prolongs life. But medics remain divided, warning that excessive amounts of coffee—packed full of caffeine—can actually damage the heart. The new study, in The Journal of Nutrition, tracked the daily coffee consumption of 46,332 people over the age of 20. Over a follow up of 11 years, they found black coffee and coffee with low levels of added sugar and saturated fat—like milk or cream—had a 14 per cent lower risk of death compared to no coffee consumption. But one cup of black coffee a day, specifically, slashed the risk of death including cardiovascular death, by 16 per cent. Those who drank between two and three a day saw the risk lowered by 17 per cent. However, researchers noted that the benefits peaked at three cups a day. They also found that those who added high amounts of sweeteners and dairy to their coffee did not experience the same benefits. Researchers acknowledged, however, that the coffee consumption was self-reported by volunteers, so may have been underreported, limiting the findings. It was also assessed without detailing the roast used and preparation methods. NHS data shows a rise in the number of younger adults suffering from heart attacks over the past decade. The biggest increase (95 per cent) was recorded in the 25-29 year-old demographic, though as numbers of patients are low even small spikes can look dramatic Under NHS guidance, consuming more than four cups a day can increase blood pressure. Around 2million people in the UK are diagnosed with some form of heart disease, according to Government figures. But charities estimate that a further six million have undiagnosed high blood pressure—one of the leading risk factors for stroke and heart attack. Heart disease describes a range of conditions that affect the heart and blood vessels. It's often caused by fatty deposits in the arteries that can make it harder for blood and oxygen to flow properly through the vessels and to and from the heart. This increases the risk of a blockage, and therefore stroke or heart attack. Last year, alarming data revealed that premature deaths from cardiovascular problems, such as heart attacks and strokes, had hit their highest level in more than a decade. MailOnline has previously highlighted how the number of young people, under 40, in England being treated for heart attacks by the NHS is on the rise. Cases of heart attacks, heart failure and strokes among the under-75s has tumbled since the 1960s thanks to plummeting smoking rates, advanced surgical techniques and breakthroughs such as stents and statins. But now, rising obesity rates, and its catalogue of associated health problems such as high blood pressure and diabetes, are thought to be one of the major contributing factors.

Medical News Today

9 hours ago

• Medical News Today

Modified DASH diet may reduce blood pressure in people with type 2 diabetes

Many people with diabetes also have high blood pressure, as well as unique nutritional study found that reducing sodium intake and following a modified version of the DASH diet helped to decrease blood pressure in participants with type 2 main reason for the observed decrease in blood pressure was the decreased sodium is common for people with diabetes to also experience high blood pressure. A study tested how a modified version of the DASH diet that focused on the nutritional needs of people with type 2 diabetes, combined with minimizing sodium intake, affected blood pressure dietary combination lowered systolic blood pressure among participants by around five points and diastolic blood pressure by around two points compared to the comparison diet with more sodium. This result was mainly from the decreased sodium findings were published in JAMA Internal DASH4D diet for blood pressure management The dietary approaches to stop hypertension (DASH) diet is a diet for heart health. Study author Scott J. Pilla, MD, MHS, explained to Medical News Today that 'The DASH diet is a healthy diet that is rich in fruits, vegetables and low-fat dairy products, and is lower in saturated fat and cholesterol.'However, the study notes that the DASH diet doesn't consider the unique dietary needs of people with type 2 diabetes. So, researchers created the 'Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension for Diabetes (DASH4D) diet,' which is similar to the DASH diet but considers what adults with type 2 diabetes need. For example, this diet was lower in carbohydrates than the typical DASH diet. Researchers tested how this diet, combined with decreased sodium intake, affected participants' blood randomized clinical trial included 102 adults with type 2 diabetes whose systolic blood pressure was between 120 and 159 mmHg. Participants were designated as having type 2 diabetes if they had a hemoglobin A1C of 6.5% or greater, were taking medications for diabetes treatment, or were ineligible to participate in the study for a number of reasons, including having type 1 diabetes, if their A1C was over 9%, or if they were taking weight loss average age of participants was 66 years. About two-thirds of participants used at least two medications to help lower blood pressure, and a little over half used at least two medications to lower blood 4 different dietsResearchers assigned participants to receive four diets in varying orders, each for five weeks. One was a DASH4D diet with low sodium, and another was the DASH4D diet but with higher sodium intake. The other two were comparison diets: one with lower sodium and one with higher sodium, and these diets were similar to the intake of adults with diabetes living in the United States. The participants were provided with the food for their assigned diets, and aside from allowed beverages, they were not supposed to eat food from other sources outside the did not lose weight throughout the study. Researchers measured systolic blood pressure during the last two weeks of each diet intervention. They kept track of adverse events among participants, such as any very high blood pressure self-reported how well they stuck to their assigned diets, but researchers also did a 24-hour urine excretion test during the fourth or fifth weeks to look at sodium, creatinine, and potassium levels, which also was a way to test how well participants were following diet findings showed that the lowering of blood pressure mostly occurred during the first three weeks of participants following a diet. The researchers found that the DASH4D diet with reduced sodium showed a better overall decrease in blood pressure versus the comparison diet that had higher sodium intake. The average difference in systolic blood pressure between these two groups was 4.6 mmHg, and the average difference in diastolic blood pressure was 2.3 mmHg.'The main finding was that a low-sodium DASH4D diet (compared to a higher sodium typical American diet) caused a statistically and clinically significant reduction in blood pressure. Sodium reduction appeared to contribute more strongly to reducing blood pressure than the DASH4D diet.'— Scott J. Pilla, MDJennifer Wong, MD, a board-certified cardiologist and medical director of Non-Invasive Cardiology at MemorialCare Heart and Vascular Institute at Orange Coast Medical Center in Fountain Valley, CA, also noted that 'Studies like these remind us of the beneficial impact of a heart-healthy diet, especially a low salt diet designed to modify blood pressure.'Study limitations This research only included a small number of participants and focused on a niche subgroup of individuals, limiting generalizability. The majority of participants were Black, which provided important information about this at-risk group. Two-thirds of the participants were women. However, research in other groups may also be dietary interventions for this study each only lasted five weeks, so long-term follow-up may be helpful with further data, such as following the assigned diet and health history, was self-reported by participants, so inaccuracies are adverse events on the DASH4D diet with low sodium were low, more research into the potential risks may be helpful. Researchers also suggest the need for more research in people with a higher level of risk. The amount that blood pressure was lowered by could have been less in this study for many reasons, such as the high number of participants taking diuretics and the number of participants who experienced changes to their blood pressure medications during the acknowledge that they weren't able to detect the separate impact of the DASH4D diet and decreased sodium intake. Another struggle was the COVID-19 pandemic. The authors explain that this 'interrupted participant feeding at several points.' It was also only a single-site also noted that 'More work is needed on how to make healthy, low sodium diets accessible. Following a healthy diet can be challenging and costly, and we would like to design diets that meet the DASH4D nutrient targets that are more affordable and tailored to different cultures.'Researchers note that it may be hard to decrease sodium intake to only 1,500 mg a day, and future research in this area will be helpful. The authors say this research should include 'implementation research in community settings.'Should I follow a DASH4D diet if I have diabetes?The result suggests that the DASH4D eating plan combined with lower sodium intake helps with blood pressure reduction in people with type 2 diabetes. Researchers note that a five mmHg reduction in systolic blood pressure can decrease the risk of stroke, heart failure, and cardiovascular events. It can also help with kidney noted the following regarding the clinical implications of the study:'Diet change can effectively improve blood pressure in people with diabetes, even those on multiple antihypertensive medications, so clinicians should still focus on diet even in these individuals.''Dietary sodium reduction is an important part of dietary change in people with diabetes to achieve better blood pressure control. Our specific DASH4D diet with lower sodium now has strong evidence for benefiting people with diabetes, so it should be strongly considered as a recommended diet in this population.'— Scott J. Pilla, MDEven though there may be a need for more research, Patrick Kee, MD, PhD, a cardiologist at Vital Heart & Vein, noted the following about the study's results:'The acceptability and adherence to the lower sodium intake (~1500 mg/day) was high among participants, suggesting that with proper guidance and access to prepared meals or education, such dietary targets are feasible in practice. This finding counters a long-standing belief that stringent sodium targets may be unrealistic for patients.'