When Things Are Not Right in the Garden | Observe, evaluate, adjust

[@tanarehbein7768]

Thanks for giving us permission to replan, renegotiate, and redesign without being a failure.

[@delphinium5555]

I think many of us are making changes this year for lots of reasons! I know when I've had a good afternoon in the garden when there has been so much compost coming through my Croc's that my feet are virtually growing roots!

[@LizZorab]

Love that!

[@TanjaHermann]

Learning about what you DON'T want is never a failure! I used to beat myself up about not using my veg garden in the winter for early season crops but I just hate being out in cold, dark weather. Accept that you don't want bees and focus on the things in your garden and on your land that make you happy! All the best! Love your channel and your inspiring content.

[@perkinshomestead]

I love what you said: "if it just doesn't make your soul sing" then change it. You are an inspiration to me. We have 10 acres here where we live and most of it yard or a field that needs tending to really badly. I have 4 areas where I garden. I am going to make some changes this year too, adding raised beds. I love the sheep and we have thought about getting a few of those. I also like how you shared how you need to make changes. You really have thought it through and make me realize that I need to do the same here too. Thank you for this video Liz. You look great and are such a hard worker. This is so inspiring to me, even though I have a bad knee, I can still get out there and garden.

[@EuroKitty33]

I really contemplated what you say about bees. I have always been fascinated with bee keeping but I don't have the desire to do so myself. I watch hours of others with horizontal beehives and how they raise them naturally. My husband and I have several large areas of flowers in our yard and we have MANY bees. Through the summer they are drunk on nectar and I love the droning buzz. They really ignore us as they go about their duty. We have bumble bees and honey bees and though I do love honey, I am too cautious to try to care for them the way they need. So we provide them plenty of flowers and absolutely NO pesticides anywhere near our property and the birds and bees are happy. PS - We buy our honey from local farmers!

[@sandradodd9728]

I kept bees for 15 years and then last year I had a severe anaphylactic reaction which nearly cost me my life. I had 7 hives in our field, this year I am so scared to see them in my bee-friendly garden. If you are not entirely comfortable Liz then you have made the right decision.

[@LizZorab]

Thanks Sandra! I just feel a huge sense of relief now that I've made the decision and proper plans for them to move to a lovely new home. The beekeeper is going to keep one hive for me on his land, just in case I ever change my mind about having bees here.

[@angelabyrne154]

My mum had a beautiful garden, and we used to say her plants didn’t have roots - they had feet from how many times she used to mov them. Didn’t lose any either.

[@Lovelygreens]

Such a good decision, Liz. That way, you can focus on one part of the garden and give it the love it needs to develop. It's no use to you, or the food forest or flower area, spreading butter over too much bread. Get Dave and Mr J busy on lifting those plants with you 😁💚

[@somuchpotential]

So healthy, your perspective on re-evaluation. It’s totally ok to stop doing something that isn’t working for you. I call it the freedom to quit. It’s all part of healthy personal growth. One needs that freedom to be able to make one’s ‘soul sing’. ❤

[@LizZorab]

Thank you!

[@mudoh2131]

Love the idea the flowers in the food forest.

[@LizZorab]

Me too!

[@kendallsproat]

Love your new haircut. Love your channel. Even though I’m in California , I grow so much from your vlogs and wisdom. Thank you!

[@LizZorab]

Awesome! Thank you!

[@Thegonepotties]

you’ve both done so well it’s looking great 😊

[@LizZorab]

Thank you!! 😊

[@thoseplantpeople530]

Loved this video. I think a garden is always evolving and your rethinking is so refreshing. I think ornamentals in a forest garden are so important, it has to be a space that is a real pleasure to garden, otherwise it gets neglected. Looking forward to seeing how it develops

[@spinningstones]

Great post Liz. I just changed garden edging after 3 years and am always rethinking how to make needed changes. Especially as the climate throws so many curve balls at us in the past few years.

[@honoregale856]

Really interesting video and great advice. This year I am hoping to adopt the motto I think you and Niall coined ‘do less better’! It’s no good having space to grow if your pleasure then becomes a chore. Good luck with carrying out the changes.

[@sura2047]

I knew a man who was on 7 acres and he got hives in but he didn’t attend to them, he just let the keeper use his land in exchange for the honey. Unfortunately though, for whatever reason, the bees hated just him. If he went anywhere even 50m from their hives, they would target just him and sting him in the face, neck, it was horrible. I and others were standing right next to him but those bees only attacked him.. they recognised his face. He had to tell the keeper to take them off the property, it was getting to the point he couldn’t even peacefully go in his own garden. I’ve not yet got bees, not confident for those reasons.. By the way, your new haircut is lovely, you look so beautiful. Thanks for another great video 😊

[@ebradley2306]

What a view down the hill off in the distance! 🙂

[@cryttersytter]

Great video!! You are a wonderful person🥰. Bees aren't for everyone. Can't wait for the next glims into your life.

[@LizZorab]

Thank you so much!

[@Garden-of-weeden]

Thank you so much for your Brussel recommendation this evening Liz! I shall give them a whirl and let you know 🥰

[@adysveggarden]

Moving the flowers into the food forest makes it more manageable.

[@LizZorab]

Exactly and once the food forest is set up and growing nicely, then I can expand into the flower field.

[@delphinium5555]

I would be afraid of bees too, Liz. Everything looking very positive for a change around. I'm doing the same. I wanted to free up some of the herbaceous beds to vegetables as last year with the heat I didn't enjoy having to use a lot of water to keep them growing. I'm going to plant a couple of buddleias for the butterflies and have left the big lavender bushes.

[@nicolaj3294]

Hi Liz, sometimes I'd like to re-do my whole small garden but it would be a huge job so try and appreciate what I have even if I'm not exactly happy with it. I don't think you can ever be 100% happy with everything, there's always something that died, didn't grow well, didn't look like you thought it would etc. Part of gardening I suppose.😊🌿

[@LizZorab]

And wouldn't it be boring if we had a garden that was completely perfect! What would be strive for?

[@elfmaart8083]

I feel you on the bees! My not so friendly hive gave me a lot of anxiety; i dreaded the inspections more and more. At first i felt a bit guilty for relocating them and selling all the gear but now I am really relieved that this spring will be so relaxed! At least we've tried, listened to ourselves and had the courage to made a wise decision!

[@LizZorab]

I'm completely fine with all the bees, bumble, mason etc that buzz around the garden, it's just those honey bees that have started to freak me. I'm pleased to read that you will have an easier spring without the anxiety of a box of anger!

[@mariondunn6580]

Thanks for another lovely video. I can't get over your amazing views, what a place to work. Good bee decision. So many folk are doing bees, it seems almost to be an obligation if you have a garden or a bit of land but they are definitely not for everyone and their danger needs to be respected. I take my hat off to you.

[@ottocarmanjones7143]

Aussie bee keeper here. Congrats on going solo. If you are going to glove I can recommend some thin white cotton gloves with some dishwashing gloves over the top. You’ll have much finer movement ability.

[@christasmicroflowerfarm2695]

Having moved into our new home as much as I would've liked to fill the garden with loads of flowerbeds, I've kept it to a minimum of one very large one and a medium plus 2 small ones. The large flower bed is shaped a bit like a boomerang and is about 40 metres long and 15 metres wide in the middle. I've filled it with many plants dug up from our old garden of over 40 years. The medium sized one is a cut flower bed and hubby is about to build me another one next to it out front, 6 metres by 3 metres. Our veggie garden is made up of raised beds and ground beds for the perennials. My goal is to have a very low maintenance garden so that it's manageable for me and hubby in our old age, we are in our 60s now. We get a lot of rain here so the gardens are doing ok but in winter and spring it gets a bit waterlogged, I'm in Australia, Victoria along the coast. We basically built our home in a paddock on one acre so it's been a challenge for us these past few years with moving and building but we just love our new home.🥰💐🙃

[@freeplantngardenstandsfami9009]

Lovely!

[@gudi361]

Good luck with all your plans

[@LizZorab]

Thank you! I'll share the progress as I go along.

[@MarvinNL]

Good for you, Excellent plans!

[@LizZorab]

Thank you!

[@jeanettefrancis6473]

Loved your previous food forest. Not sure about the straight lines of trees in the new one. Will you be filling in the rows a bit as well.Good idea to adapt and change according to your interests.

[@SmallholdingUK]

Hi liz, I like your plot it’s similar to what I’m slowly creating at my Smallholding, interesting stuff I just subscribed 👍

[@arhodes2866]

😅love what you are doing.

[@lorrainerichardson3280]

Adding new components in is a way of finding what works and what doesn't. My worry is that as there is an egg shortage here in New Zealand people have decided to have hens in their backyards possibly not realising the work that goes with them. I am friends with someone who runs a hen rescue on a part of her property, at present she has no hens but I think wait a couple of months when they stop laying she is going to be awfully busy again. My point is, if it doesn't work tick it off as having a go and move on. Take care =-)

[@LizZorab]

I know exactly what you mean about the chickens, there's a similar pattern happening here. I've spent 5 years trying to feel comfortable with the bees, so I think I've given it a pretty fair try. And it doesn't mean that we won't try again at some point in the future, but for now, I need to feel comfortable tending to the other livestock and I'm just not feeling it with all those buzzy girls around.

[@dollyperry3020]

Wool is supposed to be a fantastic mulch AND they don't send belly wool to the wool processor...so maybe you could get some for your garden. I'd love a video on how to start from scratch on a homestead.

[@LizZorab]

We keep all their wool to use in the garden, as a mulch and in the compost bins. 🐑

[@kellykilfeather]

I moved to the country and now have a large pasture that I’m creating a growing space in. Initially I was thinking ‘this section for veg, that section for cut flowers’ and I concentrated on clearing ground for the veg first, as food was my priority. Now that I’ve cleared a bit more grass and almost doubled the growing area I’m having to question why I would want to segregate the area that way…. And it’s because most of the homestead/growing channels I look at do this… but I don’t know why. 🤔 Why can’t I plant rows of annual flowers in between rows of annual veg? Why can’t my perennial fruit reside next to my perennial flowers? Wouldn’t it make more sense for biodiversity of beneficial insects to mix things up? Wouldnt it make crop rotation less of a mental Jenga puzzle? Wouldn’t it baffle the carrot root fly to have strong scented flowers rather than strong scented onions? Can’t I make my herbaceous plants my wind break and give valuable shade in the hottest part of the day, rather than pile them all in their own section in a corner? If there’s a good reason to not plant my food amongst my flowers, I can’t think of it… Answers on a postcard? Is there a reason why you’re keeping your flowers in your food forest, and not the veg garden? Is it a question of space?

[@LizZorab]

If you see my veg garden tours, you'll see the veg beds are stuffed with flowers too. Every bed is a polyculture. The food forest is a mixture of fruit, veg and flowers, just as you describe. Most areas in Byther Farm have a name to identify where they are, rather than a strict description of what is growing in them. I was planning a cut flower field to potentially run as a separate business, hence wanting to keep it in a separate area.

[@Lynnefromlyn]

Liz, , have I missed something somewhere? Probably have but …what’s the difference between a veg garden and a food forest?

[@gawain8000]

Awesome ❤

[@LizZorab]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@FaveWasteOfTime]

My father always kept bees and they never bothered me much but one spring when they were leaving their hive on a cleansing flight and I was hanging out laundry we had an "encounter" which ended me at emergency and discovering that I am now highly allergic to bees stings. I would never have a hive because now I fear bees and I think they can sense my fear.

[@LizZorab]

Happy to say I'm not allergic to bee stings (or at least not yet!), but you have my total sympathies.

[@Iamhome365]

That must have been awful ! My little boy is allergic to bee stings, we found out a few years ago, could literally see him swelling infront of our eyes and spread over parts of his body

[@FaveWasteOfTime]

@@Iamhome365 It was because I couldn't breath - well taking a breath required labour and then I started almost hyperventilating. I was in my early teens I guess. Now, if I get stung I know what to expect and am much calmer but I never go out in the wilderness without an epi-pen. It is scary the first time it happens because as your throat closes you think you are going to die. It really did take me a while to be able to even get near a bee again but I sure appreciate everything about them, especially their honey.

[@chrisfiller465]

Liz, do you manage all your different gardens and livestock on your own or do you have help?

[@LizZorab]

I do it on my own (mostly). Mr J helps carry heavy things that I can't do on my own and occasionally makes a hole for me to plant a tree into. For 9 months a year, I have help one day a week with land maintenance like hedge cutting and lawn mowing. Making raised beds, moving compost, sowing seeds, planting and tending the garden etc. is down to me. Mr J and I share the care of the animals.

[@marianneeckertjensen4723]

That is so true. You would not grow things that are not useful to you either. :)

[@LizZorab]

Absolutely!

[@LiLBitsDK]

shame you are so scared of bees, they are quite friendly as long as you don't squash them... could have moved them to a less used area and have someone handle them and just get some honey out of it and none of the work

[@LizZorab]

That's exactly what happens now (as in Andy the bees tends to them), but there is nowhere on our site that is less used than the spot they are in.