Now is the Time to Show Courage and Give Your Garden a Reshuffle.
A common observation in plots cared for by the same individual or group is that the best ones never stay the same. Gardeners with a deep passion for their plots rearrange elements all the time, with the same confidence and curiosity as those restless interior design lovers who change their curtains twice a year with the seasonal time shifts.
The most extended period I've managed a plot is five years, but even in that time I feel as though I made a multitude of distinct spaces. The trial-and-error method of transplanting a specimen that isn’t terribly happy has been a stalwart of mine since I started pot cultivation on a minuscule terrace.
Yes, there’s a risk that moving a plant may overwhelm or challenge it, but it’s also a costless and quite simple way of playing with new shapes, forms and ideas in your plot, no matter the size. And I’d contend that right now, this slow, quiet time between Christmas and January, as one calendar transitions to another, as the days slowly begin to lengthen again, is a symbolically lovely time to do it.
If you’d rather be more formal, draw a plan of your borders, whether existing or planned, to help position specimens in their new place.
If you live in an area that has been damp to the point of boggy, or completely iced over, then save it for a calm Saturday in January instead. But if things are simply chilly, moist, and dormant out there, you’ve got the perfect conditions for rearranging your greenery, because many long-lived plants are resting. I recommend you begin with the things that are causing you slight concern – whether it’s because you wish they were growing better, they’re frustrated in a too-small pot or looking deathly – because the chances are that a new spot will only improve things.
One of my favourite things about gardening is the almost free-flowing nature of how plans unfurl once I’m in the garden. But if you’d prefer a methodical plan, create a diagram of your beds, whether current or envisioned, to help get things in their new place. Prepare the landing site before you lift anything: dig a hole that’s amply deep and more spacious than the expected root mass (look to the base of the specimen for a useful indicator), and add some organic matter or mature compost. Then dig up, place, and firm in firmly and give a thorough watering to celebrate the plant’s fresh abode.
Depending on the plant, you won’t see the results of your work for a few weeks yet, but there’s a pleasure in this process, too. During this period, you can appreciate the revised layout through its skeletal structure; and if it’s not working for you, have another shuffle before spring comes. A fresh take on the garden for the coming year.
