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Something I’ve noticed in gardens that have been tended by the same individual or group is that the finest examples rarely remain the same. People who truly love their plots shuffle things around all the time, with the same confidence and curiosity as those restless interior design lovers who change their curtains twice a year 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 transplanting a specimen that isn’t terribly happy has been a stalwart of mine since I started pot cultivation on a minuscule terrace.

Yes, there’s a chance that relocating a plant may stress or test it, but it’s also a free and relatively easy way of playing with new shapes, forms and ideas in your plot, no matter the size. And I’d argue that right now, this slow, quiet time between Christmas and January, between one year and the next, as the days slowly begin to lengthen again, is a symbolically lovely 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 damp to the point of boggy, or frozen solid, then postpone it until a calm Saturday in January instead. But if things are simply chilly, moist, and dormant out there, you’ve got the ideal circumstances for rearranging your greenery, because many perennials will be dormant. I recommend you begin with the things that are causing you slight concern – whether it’s because you hope for more vigorous growth, they’re cramped in an undersized container or appearing quite poorly – because the likelihood is that a different position will only improve things.

One of my favourite things about gardening is the almost free-flowing nature of how ideas develop once I’m out there. But if you’d prefer a methodical plan, create a diagram of your beds, whether existing or planned, to help place items in their new place. Ready the new planting hole before you lift anything: excavate a space that’s generously deep and larger than the anticipated rootball (look to the crown of the plant for a good guide), and add some organic matter or mature compost. Then dig up, place, and firm in securely and provide a good water to mark the plant’s fresh abode.

Based on the species, you won’t see the results of your work 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 skeletal structure; and if it’s not working for you, have another shuffle before spring comes. A fresh take on the garden for the coming year.