Today's Photo: A Big Pink Bee in the Garden

Hope I'm doing this right. The bees seem to have deserted my estate as spring has advanced, leaving my cucumbers without a pollinating influence. That puts me in the position of being the cucumber bull to the plant's cow.

I am using a Q-Tip here to pass the pollen from flower to flower and I have no idea if what I'm trying to accomplish is even possible, but without pollination--and my bees--my guess is I'll have a lot of pretty green leaves, bright yellow flowers and no cucumbers, which seemed to be the point at one time.

I should have noticed the bees deserting me when I didn't see any in the flowering clover and any of a dozen other flowering plants around. Wish me luck, but I don't know if luck will have nearly as much to do with it as artificial insemination.