Something I\u2019ve noticed in gardens that have been tended by the same person \u2013 or people \u2013 is that the best ones never stay the same. People who truly love their plots shuffle things around all the time, with the same confidence and curiosity as those restless interior design lovers who change their curtains twice a year with the clocks.<\/p>\n
The longest I\u2019ve ever had a plot is five years, but even in that time\u00a0I\u00a0feel as though I made several different gardens. The suck-it-and-see approach of lifting something that isn\u2019t terribly happy has been a stalwart of mine since I started container gardening on\u00a0a tiny balcony.<\/p>\n
Yes, there\u2019s a risk that moving a\u00a0plant may overwhelm or challenge it, but it\u2019s also a free and relatively easy way of playing with new shapes, forms and ideas in your plot, no matter the size. And I\u2019d argue that right now, this slow, quiet time between Christmas and January, between one year and the next, as the days gradually start to stretch out again, is a symbolically lovely time to do it.<\/p>\n
If you\u2019d rather be more formal about it, sketch your beds, whether existing or planned, to\u00a0help get things in their new place<\/p>\n
If you live in an area that has been damp to the point of boggy, or frozen solid, then save it for a quiet weekend in January instead. But if things are simply cool, damp and docile out there, you\u2019ve got the perfect conditions for shuffling some plants around, because many perennials will be dormant. I\u00a0recommend you start with the things that are bothering you a bit \u2013 whether it\u2019s because you wish they were growing better than they are, they\u2019re frustrated in a too-small pot or looking deathly \u2013 because the chances are that a new spot will only improve things.<\/p>\n
One of my favourite things about gardening is the almost free-flowing nature of how plans unfurl once I\u2019m out there. But if you\u2019d rather be more formal about it, draw up a sketch of your beds, whether existing or planned, to\u00a0help get things in their new place. Prepare the landing site before you lift anything: dig a hole that\u2019s generously deep and larger than the anticipated rootball (look to the crown of the plant\u00a0for a good guide), and add some\u00a0mulch or well-rotted compost. Then lift, plonk, bed down firmly and\u00a0give a\u00a0good water to celebrate the\u00a0plant\u2019s new home.<\/p>\n
Depending on the plant, you won\u2019t see the fruits of your labour for a few weeks yet, but there\u2019s a satisfaction in this, too. While you wait, you can enjoy your new planting arrangement through its skeletal structure; and if it\u2019s not working for you, have another shuffle before spring comes. A fresh take on the garden for the new year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Something I\u2019ve noticed in gardens that have been tended by the same person \u2013 or people \u2013 is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":336680,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[49,50,51,47,52,48],"class_list":["post-336679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336679","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=336679"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/336679\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/336680"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=336679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=336679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=336679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}