RE: Moving a garden

Oh that reminds me I wrote an article about the move in 1997, perhaps some of you can relate to moving day madness made more so by moving plants:

It Isn't a Jungle YET!

You just got off the telephone with the Mortgage Company announcing your loan is approved. After the joy of the news wears off you realize the work you have ahead of you. Eight years of accumulation swarms in front of your eyes as you make notes of where to get boxes to pack your household. The list grows with notes on how many able bodied family members would be willing to help lift furniture. On your notepad you pencil in names and scratch out clumsy Uncle Bill's name.

This was the start of the year 1997 for my family and me. Moving a household is not an easy task, and adding a garden full of plants you plan to take with you makes the task larger than life.

With eight years of gardens filled with prized plants, a separate list begins with every plant to be moved. Restless nights spent dreaming of my new garden, turned to nightmares of plants falling off the truck, splattering the freeway with green.

As moving day approached, I jumped between packing the china and digging up plants and placing them in any unused container I could find. If a box inside the house was empty, I grabbed it and dragged it outside to fill with a large plant. Then it was back out to the store to beg for more empty boxes, to replace the boxes marked for the dishes, but filled with plants instead.

Fortunately the owners of the home we bought from allowed me to make trips ahead of time to transplant many plants. With a 45 minute drive to the ferry boat and a half hour boat ride to the new home, each trip I thought it necessary to have a full pickup load of plants. February I spent riding the ferry over and planting plants. Many ended up heeled in until I could get time to prepare gardens for them. Hundreds of plants were moved from the old garden.

Moving day dawns and the crew arrive to move. The moving van's empty box slowly fills to overflowing with our belongings. I still see the back third of the van filled with garden furniture and potted plants from the greenhouse. This may be an exaggerated memory in my mind, although I have a hunch it's close to the truth.

With all the transplanting taking place from one garden to the other only one or two plants were lost. Most plants were still dormant when transplanted. Plants selected for moving were watered thoroughly the day before being dug. Carefully keeping as much soil around the roots as possible, I dug and wrapped each plant in a plastic bag. Some plants went into cardboard boxes with a little soil thrown in over the top to cover any exposed roots. The day after digging the plants up, I transported them to the new garden. Each plant was either planted or heeled in for safe keeping until a garden bed was ready for them. Mulched and thoroughly watered, the plants settled in to their new home.

I watered the plants for the rest of the growing season with at least an inch a week, if rainfall was less than an inch for the week. July, August and September see very little rain in the Pacific Northwest and a critical time for newly established plants. Established plants can get by with a good mulch and less water. Moisture loving plants will require supplemental watering during this period.

My gardens have a very unestablished look to them this year where once was grass. In a few more years my gardens will start to take on that jungle look again as I look forward to another new adventure in gardening.



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* Debra Teachout-Teashon
* Washington state USA
* USDA zone 8b possibly 9a
* 22F (lowest in seven years)
* <http://www.rainyside.com/>http://www.rainyside.com (Rainy side gardeners)

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