Why You Should Leave A Slice Of Watermelon In Your Garden During The Day

There's a lot that goes into growing the perfect garden, and on top of providing your veggies, flowers, and other plants with the right environmental conditions, there's another thing that can have a great impact: attracting pollinators. Pollinators can benefit your garden greatly, helping your plants reproduce more effectively and ensuring a higher quality yield. Plant health is largely based on genetic diversity, and pollination is a key part of this process.

While there are plants that can help fill your garden with butterflies and other pollinators, a simple method you may want to try is leaving a slice of watermelon in your garden during the day. Pollinators such as butterflies, bees and hummingbirds are attracted to the sweet scent of watermelon and other fruits and will come by to take a closer look. Butterflies will happily sip the juice from a watermelon and also spend plenty of time in your garden as well.

Other juicy fruits also attract pollinators. You may also want to consider leaving strawberries, oranges, or mangoes in the garden if you have them on hand. Feel free to leave some fruit that's overripe or some leftovers — aside from full slices, even some watermelon rinds will work well for attracting butterflies and other pollinators.

As you may have already suspected, there are some drawbacks to consider when aiming to attract pollinators with watermelon slices. First of all, be aware that watermelon and other fruits could attract ants when placed in your garden during the day. However, you can use water to prevent them from gaining access. Place the fruit in the center of a dish that's filled with water to prevent them from crossing over to the fruit. Keep in mind that both wasps and bees will be attracted to this fruit as well and they're not as easy to deter. While these two insects work as pollinators and can benefit your garden, they can be dangerous. Prioritize your kids' and pets' safety and keep them away from any fruit slices you place in your garden.

Also, remember that watermelon slices are best used to attract pollinators during the daytime. You probably won't want to leave them out overnight if you want to keep troublesome animals such as raccoons out of your yard. Leaving the fruit out overnight will attract raccoons, opossums, and other animals and pests that you probably don't want around. It's best to put fruit out early in the day and to remove it at night if you want to prevent this.