Are watermelons hard to pollinate naturally? I see bees and other flying insects in the garden, although in truth I never see them on the watermelons.... After seeing your answer, I tried hand pollination....I took a very fine camel hair paintbrush and swirled it around in each flower, several times, about 15 flowers in all, several seconds in each flower, trying to gently force the camel hairs into the tightly packed stuff at the center of each bloom. I went from end to end, back and forth doing each flower twice. When finished the paintbrush was covered in yellow pollen. Am I doing it correctly, do you think?

You had what we call a patchy frost and I'll bet it was colder that night than you thought. The air may be cold enough for frost but if the ground is warm enough the frost will just settle on the roof tops and not touch the ground. Sometimes certain things give off heat or there is a warmer spot that keeps frost from settling. If you are up early and suspect there might have been frost you can water and wash the frost off before the sun hits it. It is the reaction of the sun on frozen plants that does the damage. You can set a sprinkler in the garden on a timer so it goes on just before sunrise, or you can do as jean suggested and cover them and remove it in the morning

Hi, Recently bought a curry leaf plant. potted up to 4 inch bigger pot. its been 3 weeks since i potted up and i kept it outdoors in the sunny deck. now the leaves tips are turning black and few leaves are dropping. what am i doing wrong? i haven't fertilized it yet. last few days there was more rain. please help.

As far as your last question, you really have to use your judgement about watering. I grew Phals in NY for many years. You really learn by mistakes as to what works under your growing conditions. If your room is cool you want to water when dry. If it is warm and well lit, you can wait until the media is damp. When I grew indoors in NY, I always potted my Phals in small bark with sphag mixed in. My growing conditions were very dry over the winter. My growing space was cool/cold over winter. I had problems with crown rot and dehydrated roots. I put a pad of sphag over the surface to hold some moisture. I removed that in Spring. Without knowing your conditions, I would advise you to wait for the weather to warm with extended daylight hours. Sometimes you just have to keep the plant alive until better conditions. I would suspect that is what is happening to your plant. I have always been a strong believer that light trumps all. If you plant is well lit it will survive the negative conditions. You seek growth which should be happening soon. I wouldn't repot again. I would wait until you see some new root growth and then repot with a little sphag mixed in the bark. You don't need perlite. Just continue to give it good light and warmth, if possible. Jane