Now is the Time to Show Courage and Give Your Garden a Reshuffle.
A common observation in plots cared for by the same person – or people – is that the best ones never stay the same. Gardeners with a deep passion for their plots shuffle things around all the time, with the same confidence and curiosity as those constantly redecorating homeowners who swap out their drapes biannually with the seasonal time shifts.
The longest I’ve ever had a plot is five years, but even in that span it seems as though I made a multitude of distinct spaces. The suck-it-and-see approach of lifting something that isn’t terribly happy has been a trusted strategy since I started container gardening on a minuscule terrace.
Yes, there’s a chance that relocating a plant may overwhelm or challenge it, but it’s also a costless and quite simple way of experimenting with new contours, structures, and concepts in your plot, no matter the size. And I’d argue that right now, this slow, quiet time between the holidays and the new year, as one calendar transitions to another, 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 existing or planned, to help get things in their new place.
If you live in an area that has been wet enough to become waterlogged, or frozen solid, then postpone it until a calm Saturday 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 perennials will be dormant. 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 looking deathly – because the likelihood is that a new spot will only enhance their situation.
One of my most cherished aspects about gardening is the almost free-flowing nature of how plans unfurl once I’m in the garden. But if you’d rather be more formal, draw up a sketch of your beds, whether current or envisioned, to help place items in their designated spot. Prepare the landing site before you lift anything: excavate a space 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 mulch or well-rotted compost. Then dig up, place, and firm in securely and provide a thorough watering to celebrate the plant’s fresh abode.
Depending on the plant, you may not witness the fruits of your labour 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 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.
