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Something I’ve noticed in plots cared for by the same individual or group is that the finest examples rarely remain the same. Gardeners with a deep passion for their plots shuffle things around all the time, with the same confidence and curiosity as those restless interior design lovers who change their curtains biannually with the changing of the clocks.

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 transplanting a specimen that isn’t terribly happy has been a stalwart of mine since I started container gardening on a minuscule terrace.

Yes, there’s a risk that moving a plant may overwhelm or challenge it, but it’s also a costless and quite simple way of experimenting with new contours, structures, and concepts in your plot, no matter the size. And I’d contend that right now, this slow, quiet time between the holidays and the new year, as one calendar transitions to another, as the days slowly begin to lengthen again, is a beautifully symbolic time to do it.

If you’d rather be more formal, sketch your beds, whether current or proposed, to help position specimens 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 cool, damp and docile out there, you’ve got the perfect conditions for rearranging your greenery, 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 hope for more vigorous growth, they’re frustrated in a too-small pot or appearing quite poorly – because the chances are that a different position will only enhance their situation.

One of my favourite things 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, create a diagram of your beds, whether current or envisioned, to help get things in their new place. Prepare the landing site before you lift anything: excavate a space that’s amply deep and more spacious than the expected root mass (look to the crown of the plant for a useful indicator), and add some organic matter or mature compost. Then lift, plonk, bed down securely and provide a good water to celebrate the plant’s new home.

Depending on the plant, you won’t see the results of your work for a couple of weeks, but there’s a satisfaction in this, too. While you wait, you can appreciate the revised layout through its bare-bones framework; and if it’s not working for you, have a second rearrangement before spring comes. A new perspective on the garden for the coming year.