RE: Moving a garden

Debra -- thanks for passing this on.  I actually hadn't thought of moving plants in boxes -- not a bad idea -- especially since I have unlimited access to boxes working for a large law firm which buys reams and reams of paper and stores reams and reams of documents.  I started collecting in January this year when the idea started rolling around in my head.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Debra Teachout-Teashon [t*@tscnet.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, June 10, 2003 9:45 PM
> To: perennials@hort.net
> Subject: 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.
> 
> 
> 
> ----------
>     * 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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