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Relocating garden advice

green fibergreen fiber Posts: 8
in Plants
Hi
i hope you can help with my dilemma. I am going to be moving house in December or January and I want to take my entire garden with me. Where I am moving to is just a patch of grass so I can’t plant straight away.  
I don’t think my back would withstand moving the house and re landscaping the garden at the same time. As I did think about clearing a trench in the grass and sticking all the plants in the ground and re moving them in spring but I don’t think moving them twice is good. 
How do I dig my plants from the old garden and safely store them in the new one to be planted March April.? The plants are mostly common not tropical or exotics. Things like budlieas red robins,  cottage garden perennials. 
I will be taking a few large shrubs about 3 ft high would these survive?. 
Any advice or tricks or suggestions on how I can do this move? 
Thanks for any help

Posts

  • green fibergreen fiber Posts: 8
    Yes i live in the U.K.  I am hiring a van and moving them myself. It’s how I protect the plants so they survive until I plant 
  • FairygirlFairygirl Posts: 55,117
    Have you stated in the terms of sale that you're removing everything though? That's what @pansyface is referring to in her post. 
    If you don't do that, you can't take anything planted in the ground.  :)
    It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....



    I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
  • NollieNollie Posts: 7,529
    Unless you must remove all the plants (e.g. as a condition of sale or because you are currently in a rental property and the landlord insists) - I would make a list of all the plants/shrubs and consider the costs and hassle factor of trying to keep them alive versus the cost of buying new plants. For example, Buddliea  are cheap and fast growing, most cottage perennials can be bought economically online as 9cm pots and will settle and mature in your new garden probably easier than the uprooted ones.

    Also consider if the growing conditions, soil and the soil PH is the same in your new house and, if different, is still suitable for the plants you intend to relocate. E.g. no point trying to move an azalea currently growing in acid soil to a new garden if it has alkaline soil.

    Some plants resent being moved at all and you may lose them in the trying, so it is important to research each one.

    For the must-haves, I agree with Pansyface, the easiest way would be to start potting them up and keep them in those pots, ready to move, then overwinter in your new place. Dig up as large a rootball as possible and prune back top growth to reduce the stress on the plants as they settle into their pots. By starting now, you can give the plants some time to settle in the pots before subjecting them to the additional stress of removal and adapting to the potentially different conditions of your new garden. This would require expenditure on suitably sized temporary pots big enough to take the rootball, compost and perhaps grit for those that like well-drained conditions.
    Mountainous Northern Catalunya, Spain. Hot summers, cold winters.
  • LiriodendronLiriodendron Posts: 8,328
    For many herbaceous plants, you can just divide them at this time of year, replanting some bits in your current garden and taking other parts with you, in pots.  And yes - you can buy a new buddleia very cheaply, which will almost certainly establish better than one you've dug up, with broken roots etc.

    I'd just back up what others have said about it not being legal to remove plants from the garden of a house you're selling, without agreement with the person buying it.  Different if you're renting, of course, if you planted the things you want to take.  :)    


    Since 2019 I've lived in east Clare, in the west of Ireland.
  • green fibergreen fiber Posts: 8
    Hi all
    thanks for all the advice. I went to double check after you’ve said about whether we can take the garden. It is a council house to council house move so we can take the plants, I didn’t think about cuttings or dividing to get smaller plants  that’s a great idea. You given me some food for thought. Potting now is also another good idea. They can survive in a frost in a plastic pot? 
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