Watermelon (Suika) in full bloom. Balcony gardening is a paradox. The good and bad thing is few bugs. Few bugs to eat your plants (good), but also few bugs to pollinate your flowers (bad).
Some flowering plants, like Watermelon, create both male (red arrow) and female (blue arrow) flowers in which pollinators, like bees, pollinate them as they travel about gathering nectar, while the flowers of some other plants contain both male and female parts, like Strawberries.
With regards to the Watermelon female flower, fruit develops with a flower on the end waiting to be pollinated. If it is not pollinated, the fruit will wither up and fall off. Today, I found a number of small fruit falling off and realized they were not being pollinated, so I removed a male flower, pulled the petals off and rubbed it on the female flowers. This generally works, but I'll have to monitor the situation and be a little more attentive.
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