Julia Altshuler wrote:

You don't necessarily have to do anything to the plants, but the flowers come in
male and female varieties so if there aren't bees to help out, one can take a
brush, poke it in each of the flowers in turn and thereby spread the goodies
around...




Generally, the male flowers appear first, giving the bees a chance to
cover themselves with pollen. The female flowers appear a few days
later. The male flowers are on an elongated stem, while the female
flowers are right up against the base of the plant.

For those who like squash blossoms in their salad, use the male flowers.
If you use the female flowers, you won't get a zucchini from that
flower.