I’m one of those wanderlust folks who don’t stay too long in one place. Putting down roots for me is about a 5-7 years exercise though it has been less and it has been more . Usually house moves are within a district or postcode area but sometimes it has been countries and even continents. In a month or so I’ll be moving house again, within the same locale but to a place with no garden! Quelle Horreur. Admittedly it is a temporary jaunt into garden-less lands but it’s a good opportunity to take stock of the garden and whittle plants down to those I love and cannot be without.
This house is rented so it is a simple case of putting the garden back to what it was. A bare strip of tatty grass with black landscape fabric on one side border and monstrously overgrown shrubs on the other. Shouldn’t be too hard. I’ve dug, planted, fed, pruned and nurtured the space into a lovely garden full of foliage and exotic flowers from spring to late winter but that has to go. In the summer I took on a second allotment plot, idly planning a clear out of the garden and now it will be perfect for ‘heeling’ everything in for 12 months while the rest of life gets settled and a new garden is found to house them. Once the specimens are out it’s a simple case of raking over soil and scattering grass seed.
When I sold my London flat and it’s bijoux, plant packed garden a few years back I had to detail every plant and root I was taking on the contract. Laws are much stricter that they were and take a prized rarity, not on the list, at your peril. Plants in pots do not normally fall under this because clearly they are portable, never the less it’s wise to make a note of all containers that will be going, along with garden ornaments, bird tables to avoid misunderstandings later.
Of course if you plan well in advance you can have a stash of cuttings and divisions stacked in a single pot size to ease the moving process all ready to be transported to a new home and planted in stunning new borders. Many will love the new environs, some won’t. Be prepared to find that a beloved plant loathes you’r new soil or aspect and turns up it’s toes in disgust. This has happened to me a few times and I’ve learn to take it on the chin. Best of all is to leave all but the most treasured plants behind and start from fresh. New house, new garden with all it;s inherent challenges. Be that a garden full of mature 1970’s conifers, a stunning designer plot full of stunning specimens or a field full of builders rubble. Each has it’s own charm.
For further advice on propagating your plants see the wonderful RHS book on propagating almost anything.
