Now is the Time to Be Bold and Give Your Garden a Reshuffle.
A common observation in gardens that have been tended by the same person – or people – is that the finest examples rarely remain the same. Gardeners with a deep passion for their plots shuffle things around all the time, with the same assurance and inquisitiveness as those constantly redecorating homeowners who swap out their drapes twice a year with the changing of the clocks.
The most extended period I've managed a plot is five years, but even in that time I feel as though I made several different gardens. The trial-and-error method of lifting something that isn’t terribly happy has been a trusted strategy since I started pot cultivation on a tiny balcony.
Yes, there’s a risk that moving a plant may stress or test it, but it’s also a costless and quite simple way of experimenting with new shapes, forms and ideas in your plot, no matter the size. And I’d contend that right now, this peaceful, tranquil period between the holidays and the new year, as one calendar transitions to another, as the days gradually start to stretch out again, is a symbolically lovely time to do it.
If you’d prefer a structured approach, sketch your beds, whether existing or planned, to help position specimens in their fresh location.
If you live in an area that has been damp to the point of boggy, or completely iced over, then save it for a quiet weekend in January instead. But if things are simply cool, damp and docile out there, you’ve got the perfect conditions for shuffling some plants around, because many long-lived plants are resting. I recommend you begin with the things that are bothering you a bit – whether it’s because you wish they were growing better, they’re cramped in an undersized container or appearing quite poorly – because the likelihood is 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 place items in their new place. Ready the new planting hole before you dig anything up: excavate a space that’s generously deep and more spacious than the anticipated rootball (look to the base of the specimen for a good guide), and add some mulch or well-rotted compost. Then dig up, place, and firm in firmly and give a good water to celebrate the plant’s fresh abode.
Depending on the plant, you won’t see the fruits of your labour for a couple of weeks, but there’s a pleasure in this process, too. While you wait, you can appreciate the revised layout through its bare-bones framework; and if it’s not to your liking, have another shuffle before spring comes. A fresh take on the garden for the coming year.
