A: Misshapen fruits and vegetables can be attributed to poor pollination. The good news is, it’s nothing that we as gardeners have done wrong. The bad news though- crops we’ve worked so hard to grow mature to be unsightly and sometimes even inedible.

My tomato plants didn’t even make it this far this year. I planted them a bit later than I intended to, and by then it was pretty hot and super wet! According to meteorologist Christina Edwards, this past May saw nearly double the average May monthly rainfall in Atlanta. The plants produced zero flowers.

What does all of that mean? The humid and wet conditions earlier this summer made it difficult for pollen to move around on crops with self-fertile flowers, like green beans, tomatoes and peas. In these conditions, sometimes it’s recommended for gardeners to help the pollination process along, either by lightly thumping the plant’s flowers or with a Q-tip or pencil eraser tip.

Crops like squash and zucchini need visits from bees in order to accomplish full pollination. Weather could also be to blame if fruit production was poor on these plants. Insects could have been deterred by all the rain in May, or insect populations could be down in those areas.

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