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Something I’ve noticed in plots cared for by the same individual or group is that the best ones never stay the same. Gardeners with a deep passion for their plots rearrange elements all the time, with the same assurance and inquisitiveness as those restless interior design lovers who swap out their drapes twice a year with the seasonal time shifts.

The most extended period I've managed a plot is five years, but even in that time I feel as though I made several different gardens. The trial-and-error method of lifting something that isn’t terribly happy has been a trusted strategy since I started pot cultivation on a minuscule terrace.

Yes, there’s a risk that moving a plant may overwhelm or challenge it, but it’s also a free and relatively easy way of experimenting with new contours, structures, and concepts in your plot, regardless of its dimensions. And I’d contend 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 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 fresh location.

If you live in an area that has been wet enough to become waterlogged, or completely iced over, then save it for a quiet weekend in January instead. But if things are simply chilly, moist, and dormant out there, you’ve got the perfect conditions for shuffling some plants around, because many long-lived plants are resting. I recommend you start with the things that are causing you slight concern – whether it’s because you wish they were growing better, 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 most cherished aspects about gardening is the remarkably fluid process of how ideas develop once I’m in the garden. But if you’d rather be more formal, create a diagram of your beds, whether existing or planned, to help place items in their designated spot. Prepare the landing site before you lift anything: dig a hole that’s generously deep and larger than the anticipated rootball (look to the crown of the plant for a useful indicator), and add some organic matter or mature compost. Then lift, plonk, bed down firmly and give a good water to mark the plant’s new home.

Depending on the plant, you may not witness the results of your work for a couple of weeks, but there’s a satisfaction in this, too. While you wait, you can enjoy your new planting arrangement through its skeletal structure; and if it’s not to your liking, have another shuffle before the season arrives. A new perspective on the garden for the new year.