A FUN-tastic Year in the Bee Happy Garden

FUN had another FUN-tastic year at Bee Happy, donating close to 2000 pounds of produce in 2024.

It's been far too long since FUN provided an update on our gardens! This post will be a bit longer than usual to catch you up on all the exciting (and challenging) things that happened this year.

Following a bountiful spring, we experienced a scorching summer with temperatures consistently exceeding 90 degrees for much of the prime growing season. While some plants thrived in the heat, others struggled.

Cucumbers were prolific, we harvested over 50 in one day. Zucchini seemed to grow right in front of our eyes. Tromboncino squash were plentiful and robust. Our pepper plants, especially the habaneros and jalapenos, produced an abundance of fiery fruits. We had a bumper crop of basil, in constant production until fall.

Two varieties of tomatoes, Sunset Sauce (yellow) and Verona (large grape), thrived in the summer sun, while a third couldn’t tolerate the heat and wasn’t as abundant.

Every summer, we learn something new. This year FUN learned that green beans don’t grow well above 90°. Their flower production was stunted, subsequently our pole bean production was mediocre. We did redeem ourselves with green bush beans which seemed to flourish

Unfortunately, FUN’s hope for a bountiful cucuzzi gourd

harvest was dashed. It was a beautiful plant, with generous vines but fruiting was impacted by the extreme heat. Another instance of extremely high temperatures preventing the plants from producing flowers, resulting in very few gourds.

Fall crops were a great success. We harvested a plentiful crop of turnips in October. Peppers continued to produce until Thanksgiving, while leaf lettuce, kale, and romaine were harvested until the first week of December.

January is a time for reflection, planning, and looking forward to the new growing season. We'll be carefully analyzing our successes and challenges from this year to make informed decisions about our garden plans for 2024. FUN is never ending in our garden!