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Something I’ve noticed in gardens that have been tended by the same person – or people – is that the best ones never stay the same. People who truly love 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 changing of the clocks.

The longest I’ve ever had a plot is five years, but even in that span it seems as though I made several different gardens. The suck-it-and-see approach of lifting something that seems somewhat discontent has been a stalwart of mine since I started container gardening on a tiny balcony.

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 contours, structures, and concepts in your plot, regardless of its dimensions. And I’d argue that right now, this peaceful, tranquil period between Christmas and January, between one year and the next, as the days slowly begin to lengthen again, is a beautifully symbolic time to do it.

If you’d rather be more formal, draw a plan of your borders, 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 save it for 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 long-lived plants are resting. 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 appearing quite poorly – because the chances are that a different position will only improve things.

One of my most cherished aspects about gardening is the almost free-flowing nature of how plans unfurl once I’m out there. But if you’d rather be more formal, draw up a sketch of your beds, whether existing or planned, to help get things in their new place. Prepare the landing site before you dig anything up: excavate a space that’s amply deep and more spacious than the anticipated rootball (look to the base of the specimen for a useful indicator), and add some organic matter or mature compost. Then lift, plonk, bed down securely and provide a thorough watering to celebrate the plant’s fresh abode.

Based on the species, you won’t see the fruits of your labour for a few weeks yet, but there’s a pleasure in this process, too. While you wait, you can appreciate the revised layout through its skeletal structure; and if it’s not to your liking, have a second rearrangement before spring comes. A fresh take on the garden for the new year.