April 2025 Newsletter
Busy as a Bee…Spring is Here!
As we move deeper into spring, April marks a vibrant surge in honeybee activity at The Garden Project. With the warmth of the season and an abundance of blooming flowers across the garden, our bees emerge from the slower rhythm of winter into a time of intense foraging, pollination, and hive expansion. Worker bees—the majority of the colony—are especially active now, gathering nectar and pollen to support both brood development and honey production. April is also swarm season when strong colonies reproduce by splitting and sending off a new queen and worker group to establish a second hive. This natural multiplication reflects not only the health of the colony but also the overflowing abundance of spring—a pattern we see throughout the garden.
At the heart of this flourishing system is the queen bee, the sole egg-layer and central figure of the hive. A healthy queen can lay up to 2,000 eggs per day, a vital rate of reproduction considering that worker bees live only 4 to 6 weeks during the active season. Her continuous egg-laying is supported by a small group of attendant worker bees, who feed her, groom her, and ensure she remains nourished with a high-protein, nutrient-rich substance called royal jelly. These workers also tend to the developing larvae, feeding them a mixture of royal jelly, pollen, and nectar—except for potential new queens, who are fed exclusively on royal jelly.
You might ask, what exactly is Royal Jelly?
Royal jelly is a thick, milky-white, nutrient-dense substance produced by young worker bees, specifically from glands in their heads called the hypopharyngeal and mandibular glands. It is not honey, pollen, or wax—but a unique secretion used to feed all bee larvae during their first few days of development, and most importantly, it is the exclusive diet of a developing queen bee throughout her entire larval stage.
What makes royal jelly so significant is its biochemical power: it’s packed with proteins, essential fatty acids, sugars, vitamins (particularly B-complex), minerals, and bioactive compounds. When a larva is selected to become a queen, she is fed only royal jelly—and this diet triggers a profound genetic and physiological transformation. Unlike her sisters (the worker bees), she develops fully functional ovaries, a larger body, and a significantly longer lifespan—often living 3 to 5 years compared to the 4 to 6 weeks of a worker bee. In short, royal jelly is not just food—it’s the biological key to queenship and a powerful example of how nourishment and purpose are deeply intertwined in the hive.
What’s Growing On….Root Developement and Fruiting
April is one of our favorite times in the garden—it’s when tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, potatoes, squash, and zucchini begin to show us just how alive the soil really is. With the warmth of the season settling in and soil temperatures staying above 60°F, we see these warm-weather crops thriving. We’ve watched as our tomatoes, peppers, and eggplants deepen their roots and reach toward the sun, soaking in nutrients like nitrogen for lush foliage, phosphorus for rooting and budding, and potassium to strengthen the plants from disease and stress. Our potatoes, hidden beneath the soil, are beginning to swell, storing energy from the leaves above—reminding us that some of the most important growth is taking place where we can’t see it.
Meanwhile, the squash and zucchini are exploding with growth. Their wide leaves stretch out like solar panels, and we’re beginning to see the appearance of both male and female flowers—a signal that fruit is not far behind. These crops are quick to grow and quick to give, but they require attentive watering and watchful eyes. Each day we walk through the plots, we see signs of fruit set, and we expect our first small harvests by the end of the month.
A New Pollinator in the Garden
This year, we’re excited to introduce Coral Honeysuckle (Lonicera sempervirens)—a vibrant, native flowering vine with both beauty and purpose. Its clusters of tubular red-orange flowers are more than eye-catching; they serve as an essential nectar source for hummingbirds, especially during early spring when food sources are still scarce. Unlike many ornamental honeysuckles, Coral Honeysuckle is non-invasive and well-adapted to our Zone 9 climate, making it a sustainable and low-maintenance addition to our growing ecosystem. Its early blooms help bridge the seasonal gap for pollinators, supporting their energy needs as they emerge into spring’s work of pollination.
Beyond its role as a pollinator plant, Coral Honeysuckle brings added ecological value to the Garden Project’s mission of cultivating life in harmony with nature. It supports native bees, butterflies, and even small songbirds, some of which feed on its berries later in the season. When trained along fences or trellises, it also provides vertical habitat and nesting cover—helping us create layered growing spaces that support a broader range of wildlife. In this way, Coral Honeysuckle is not just a new plant in our garden—it’s a new partner in our regenerative approach, reminding us that beauty and function often grow hand in hand.
TNGP Partner - Happy Earth Compost
Our partnership with Happy Earth Compost has become vital to our commitment to sustainability, stewardship, and circular living. Happy Earth collects our garden and kitchen scraps every other week—transforming what would otherwise be considered waste into nutrient-rich compost. This reduces our environmental footprint and allows us to stay focused on cultivating people and community through the garden while they handle the regenerative process behind the scenes. Their service ensures that every peel, stem, and leftover becomes part of the life cycle again, feeding future growth in soil and soul.
Their support goes beyond pickup. As a generous contribution to our final build at our Katy location, Happy Earth donated 10 yards of compost, enriching our new garden beds with living soil. Their compost isn’t just recycled matter—it’s biologically active, full of microorganisms that bring health and resilience to the garden. This partnership embodies the spirit of co-creation: one organization turns scraps into soil, and the other turns soil into transformation. Together, with aligned values we create lasting impact—where even waste is welcomed as a building block for abundance.
Sowing into the Garden
As we advance our mission across Texas, please join us in sowing seeds of change to transform lives through the garden. Sowing seeds today will guarantee a plentiful harvest tomorrow.
