🔗 Share this article

A common observation in plots cared for by the same person – or people – is that the best ones never stay the same. People who truly love their plots shuffle things around all the time, with the same assurance and inquisitiveness as those restless interior design lovers who change their curtains biannually with the seasonal time shifts.

The most extended period I've managed a plot is five years, but even in that span it seems as though I made a multitude of distinct spaces. The trial-and-error method of lifting something that seems somewhat discontent has been a stalwart of mine since I started pot cultivation on a minuscule terrace.

Yes, there’s a chance that relocating a plant may overwhelm or challenge it, but it’s also a free and relatively easy way of playing with new contours, structures, and concepts in your plot, no matter the size. And I’d argue that right now, this peaceful, tranquil period between Christmas and January, between one year and the next, as the days gradually start to stretch out again, is a beautifully symbolic time to do it.

If you’d rather be more formal, sketch your beds, whether current or proposed, to help get things in their fresh location.

If you live in an area that has been wet enough to become waterlogged, or completely iced over, then postpone it until a quiet weekend in January instead. But if things are simply cool, damp and docile out there, you’ve got the perfect conditions for rearranging your greenery, because many long-lived plants are resting. I recommend you start 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 different position will only enhance their situation.

One of my most cherished aspects about gardening is the remarkably fluid process of how plans unfurl once I’m out there. But if you’d rather be more formal, draw up a sketch of your beds, whether existing or planned, to help get things in their new place. Prepare the landing site before you dig anything up: excavate a space that’s generously deep and larger than the anticipated rootball (look to the crown of the plant for a useful indicator), and add some organic matter or mature compost. Then lift, plonk, bed down securely and provide 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 couple of weeks, but there’s a pleasure in this process, too. While you wait, you can enjoy your new planting arrangement through its skeletal structure; and if it’s not to your liking, have a second rearrangement before the season arrives. A new perspective on the garden for the coming year.