Screen Enclosed Garden

Question

If I make my wife a screened in (enclosed) vegetable garden for tomatoes, peas, beans, etc., how do the plants get pollinated? I want to keep out cats, squirrels and other pests. Is this possible? Thank you.

Answer 1

Some plants, like tomatoes and other nightshade vegetables, can pollinate themselves as long as they have wind. Other plants, like beans and squash, need pollinators to pollinate them. Even the plants that can pollinate themselves will not produce as well unless their are pollinators. You can pollinate by hand or consider leaving holes in the enclosure higher up to allow pollinators into the enclosure. These will help with hand pollinating: https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/vegetables/squash/pollinate-squash-by-hand.htm, https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/vegetables/tomato/pollinate-tomatoes.htm