Moving house...how do I move my garden?!

[ClarkL]

So we have been renting for just over 2 years and ive spent a small fortune in our garden. I really like our landlady so I don't want to strip the garden bare, but there are a few plants I really want to take (eyes up dahlia)

Im thinking now is the perfect time to thin out a few plants and jiggle things so there are no bare spaces in the garden I leave but still allows me to take some of the nicer more expensive plants like hostas, ferns and my prized dahlia.

My concern is, when is the best time over the next 3 months to start lifting certain things and the best way to store them.

I'm also conscious I've no idea what's in the garden we're moving to. It was clearly once a very lovely well cared for garden, so whatever I take needs to be happy in pots for up to a year whilst I work out best places for them.
How have you guys moved gardens in the past? or do I really need to say goodbye to the bulk of it?

I'm not expert but I would definitely pot them all up now. I wouldn't worry too much about spaces in the garden - that is not really your responsibility.

I believe they should be OK where they are now - ie dig them up, put in pot and leave them in the same place in the garden. though if we do get any hard frosts maybe put some wrapping round them as they will be exposed in pots.

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Yes, lift them now - otherwise a lot of things will disappear underground and it'll be really hard for you to tell where they are! Also, things are still warm enough for them to put on some root growth and recover from being shifted. (Make sure you give everything a good water when moving to pots).

The exception might be something like small trees, where you might want to wait for them to go dormant.

It might be worth creating some kind of holding bed in your new garden, so that you can get some plants that are a bit too big for pots/drought sensitive into the soil in spring - saves a lot of watering too.

Thanks both - Holly as always super advice. I had forgotten about things disappearing totally until next year!

I think I'll be off to buy some compost this weekend and a few big buckets to pop the plants in till we move. Luckily I have a small cut flower patch that is all in neat rows so easy to use the plants from that to fill any gaps where I take stuff up. I can pop grass seed down there to fill it in....or leave it bare, I guess the next person might want a veg patch, although as its rented I'm going to assume whoever moves in won't be a keen gardener and will want things to be kept simple.

I didnt feel too bad leaving my last home and garden because I never had to see the garden again as we moved a couple of hours away, as i'll still be in the village I'll be able to see if the next person looks after my garden still, perhaps if they dont I can pop round and weed still and essentially have 2 gardens?!

Pot them up now and make sure they have a lot of room in the pots. Frost and wet are the main winter dangers. Make sure they are off the ground so no ants slugs etc can home in for the winter and put them somewhere sheltered if you can.
I did this last year and all my plants have survived ( about 30 pots worth!) stored with friends and relatives while the furniture was in storage.
They are overwintering in pots again because we have had to do a fair amount to our garden!

If I were you, I would put as much as possible in pots, fill in the holes and sprinkle grass seeds. Gardening is expensive and like decoration is very much down to personal taste. It would be a shame to see all your hard work go to waste. Also, if the next tennant is not keen of gardening it will simpler to maintain only grass.

Well said Qwebec! It is heartbreaking to watch a garden you have nurtured go to ruin, and this happens a lot when gardeners move on, alas. Many people just don't have an interest in it and some tenants are understandably reluctant to invest time or money in something they may leave. Which makes the commitment you have all the more amazing Clark!! My first garden was in a rental and it was such a sad thing to leave it!!

Ok this is a bit obvious as advice, so apologies, but when you take the plants out, try to keep as much of the rootball intact as you can (not always possible to get the whole thing though) and the soil in place around it. This cuts down on the stress, my pet theory is it also keeps beneficial fungi and bacteria in place!!

If you have time and energy you can take backup cuttings of things like shrubs, as well as transplanting the main plant into pots. It's a kind of insurance policy!! But most things are pretty ok with being moved this time of year. (Even plants that hate being shifted like peonies will sometimes tolerate it).

When I moved house I was able to get lots of free flower buckets that the supermarket was binning. I just drilled holes in the bottom and -hey presto- large pots!!

I've just popped to a garden centre and bought compost, perlite and a few pots. The guy in there was fab offering loads of advice and talked me into taking cuttings of a few plants I'm not taking!!

I've 2 friends with big greenhouses so hopefully they can store them for me over winter.
I think I'll set the sprinkler on tonight (gardencentres advice) to give the plants in one bed a really good soak before digging up, then start the job of digging and planting.
I'm going to miss my garden :(