Master My Garden Podcast
Master My Garden podcast with John Jones. The gardening podcast that helps you master your own garden. With new episodes weekly packed full of gardening tips, how to garden guides, interviews with gardening experts on many gardening topics and just about anything that will help you in your garden whether you are a new or a seasoned gardener. I hope you enjoy.John
Master My Garden Podcast
EP292- How To Move Plants Within The Garden: Moving Plants Without Trauma. Listener Question Answered.
Gardening isn't static—it evolves as we learn, as plants grow, and as our vision for our outdoor spaces changes. Today's episode tackles the art and science of moving plants within your garden, a skill that frees you to redesign without starting over or breaking the bank.
We begin by exploring the foundational principle of "right plant, right place" that should guide your initial planting decisions. Understanding your garden's conditions and matching them to plant requirements can prevent the need for transplanting altogether. But gardens change, and sometimes plants need to find new homes within our spaces.
The timing of transplanting proves crucial for success. The dormant season—November through February—offers the ideal window when plants are less susceptible to shock. Perennials like lupins, verbena, and geraniums can be easily moved during this period, while larger woody plants require more careful consideration and technique.
Mycorrhizal fungi emerges as the secret weapon for successful transplanting. This natural ally forms a symbiotic relationship with plant roots, increasing their ability to absorb water and nutrients. Applied at planting time, it significantly improves establishment rates and helps mitigate transplant shock.
For larger specimens like trees and shrubs, we delve into specific techniques to preserve as much of the root system as possible, reduce top growth to decrease demands on the compromised roots, and provide proper aftercare. Container plants present their own challenges, particularly when root-bound, and we cover how to correct circular root patterns before planting.
Whether you're making minor adjustments to perennial placement or undertaking the significant challenge of moving a mature magnolia, understanding these principles and techniques will transform your approach to garden design. Your plants deserve this second chance, and with our guidance, they'll thrive in their new locations.
If there is any topic you would like covered in future episodes, please let me know.
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Until next week
Happy gardening
John
How's it going, everybody, and welcome to episode 292 of Master my Garden podcast. Now, this week's episode is answering a listener's question or, I suppose, a suggestion from a listener to cover the subject of moving plants within the garden, and it's actually very heavily linked to next week's episode. So the the listener, stephen Daly he's a long-time listener and friend of the podcast and Stephen has, you know, off the back of some episodes that we covered a couple years ago, has been growing his own perennial plants from seed and I saw some pictures of those a while back really, really successful. And you know, stephen has taken great pride from the fact that and, I suppose, satisfaction from the fact that he has taken these blooms from a packet of seed right through to full maturity within his garden. And there's a sense of achievement and a sense of pride that comes along with that, and that's definitely the case and that's something that we want to tie in to the grow along and that's what we're going to be chatting about next week. We're going to talk about everything that you're going to need for that grow along and hopefully as many of you as possible can, you know, come along on that, on that journey. There will be obviously the the podcast you know instructional podcast but also videos, so do separate videos, possibly even a couple of lives, to show the process of what you need to do and so on. And it's definitely heavily linked to next week's because Stephen's question relates to. He is growing these perennial plants and I was commenting how well the bed looks and he reckons he has some editing to do, as he says, where he needs to sort of move some plants, and he's asking how to do that.
Speaker 1:And again, it's something that I haven't covered on the podcast before and it's kind of an interesting one and there's, as I was sort of thinking about how you would structure the episode or how you'd go about chatting about the episode, there was loads of different things that were springing to mind and kind of all of them were related because over the last number of weeks since I've been, you know, asking you guys to to make contact, to say hello, to introduce yourselves, there's a huge amount of people have got in touch and the trend seems to be that most people who are listening to the podcast are, I suppose, beginner gardeners, relatively novice gardeners, or people who are finding their feet and are finding the podcast good for getting them up and running and giving sort of solid advice in terms of you know, in terms of where to go and how to start and how to do something. And that is really heartening, because that's the whole purpose of it and why that relates to to Stephen's question is that Stephen has grown all these brilliant plants and he's now looking to make some changes. He kind of he said that he grew them and just stuck them in, and I suppose that's a big part of where you start with when we're talking about how to move plants, because what we're looking to do at the very, very start, if possible, is to put the right plant in the right place. And I forget who famously said that was. Was it Bette Chateau or somebody like that? I know lots of gardeners are sort of credited with saying it, but I'm not sure who originally said it. But Helen Dillon was another one that said right plant, right place, but I'm not sure who was the original person to say it. But that's very, very true the right plant, right place.
Speaker 1:And there's sort of multi multifacets to that as well, and again, they're going to be, you know, for many of you guys who are sort of learner or novice gardeners, how do you know how to put the right plant in the right place? You know that's the thing. So that got me thinking. You know that I haven't actually covered. We've talked to many brilliant garden designers on here and we've talked about how to, you know, go about laying out gardens different ideas, different plant combinations. You know we've talked to open gardens and how they've done things and so on, but I haven't actually set out and said, right, this is how you go about creating a border, and maybe something like that would. That will be really useful to people as well. You know, I'm starting from scratch here and growing these plants. Where should I be putting them? So that's kind of going off topic here, but that's another sort of thing that we can talk about. That will definitely help people, another sort of thing that we can talk about that will definitely help people.
Speaker 1:But you know and I will get to the moving of the plants in a minute, stephen but what you're looking for at the very, very start is right plant, right place, and that has multiple sort of explanations behind it. Number one, right plant, right place, can refer to the planting question and the area that you're putting it. So, for example, if you have, you know, an Acer palmatum. They famously do not like wind, so you're not going to stick that in a windy spot or at the windiest corner of your house. So there's that element of it. There's also the element of azaleas they like ericaceous soil, so you don't just stick them into your normal garden and expect them to thrive, because they need certain conditions.
Speaker 1:So it's about understanding the ground conditions, the facing, the shade, the sunlight. You know the needs of the plant and just being aware of those. You don't need to get too bogged down on it, but be aware of the needs of the plant, be aware of what conditions you can provide within the space that you're looking to, looking to. You know, put the plant into and if they don't match up, then don't put the plant there, because and that's where the origin of this right plant, right place comes from Because it's just the first thing that will lead you to, you know, failure or to need to move the plant afterwards. So that's why that's why I was saying I tried to go back a step before we get to the moving of it. So that's, that's a really critical piece and I know it doesn't answer the question around moving plants, but if any of the rest of you guys are, you know, looking at your garden, planning your garden, and you're planning with, you know with as a relative novice, you know then the simple questions that you need to ask are what conditions does this plant like and does the situation that I'm going to put it into match up with the conditions that they like? And if they don't, then that's not suitable for there doesn't mean that you can't grow it. There is other ways of creating conditions. You know, you might have an acer, palm, mat and white can grow on one side of your house, but you might be able to put it in a in a nice covered area, a nice sheltered spot or a little courtyard, or you know something like that. Or grow it in a pot where you can shelter it, where you can move it. So it doesn't rule it out, but knowing, when you're going into your garden beds, what condition you have, and then find a list of plants that will match with those conditions, and from there you can start to lay out your garden, lay out your plants. We'll talk afterwards, as I said in a separate episode, about how you would actually go about structuring a bed and creating a bed for scratch if you're a novice or if you're a newbie gardener. What is it that we're looking for in order to create these borders For Stephen?
Speaker 1:He's just looking to do kind of an editing. It's not looking. He's happy with the layout and so he should be, as from seeing the pictures you know. There's great color in it, it's nice shape, um, everything seems to be quite well. But just a little bit of minor editing, as he calls it, little changes that he wants to make, some colors that maybe don't match together. So when you've chosen the right plant at the right place, then it's a case of how do you move and when do you move.
Speaker 1:In Stephen's case, what he's grown is predominantly perennials and all grown from seed. As I say, a great sense of pride comes from that. But within that he has lupins, sea holly, verbena, geraniums, sedums, delphiniums, rubecchias, steepus which is a grass, obviously and agelias. So he has loads of really good perennial plants and wants to move some of them, and I suppose with any plant, the first thing is that the only time you can move them is during the dormant season, and the dormant season is, depending on frost and so on, is typically the 1st of November, more or less right through to the very latest end of March. Now, sometimes you can, you know, the likes of bare root can go on a little bit longer. Latest end of march. Now, sometimes you can, you know, the likes of bare root can go on a little bit longer.
Speaker 1:But for a plant that you're going to move within your garden, you really want to be moving it in that window from, in my opinion, from the first of february through to the to the end of, or from the first of november through to the end of february. That's kind of the time frame. So completely dormant plant is is the only way. So for something you know that is perennial, that completely dies back, you might need to be using a you know bamboo cane or something that identifies where it actually is in the ground and then you can move from there. So let's look at this list that Stephen has. So all of these lupin, sea holly, verbenas, geranium sedums and so on, all of these are perennials, with the exception of one grass in there, and like most plants, they don't like being moved, especially when you're perennials in the earlier stages.
Speaker 1:But after that, once they get established, during that dormant period, it's really easy to move either a portion of it or the complete plant. So, for example, in Stephen's case, if he's happy with certain colors or certain flowers in a certain spot, but maybe they're just starting to take over a little bit, he can get the spade and literally cut out chunks of the root zone. So, for example, if it was a hosta now hosta is not on this list, but let's say you have a big hosta you can in the winter period you won't see where the actual plant is, you'll have to mark it out beforehand, but you would literally drive your spade right down through the centre of it, go as deep as you possibly can you know, want to be going down 12 or 14 inches and cut it straight across the top of the crown and then dig out one half of it. So then you can leave one half there, allow it to regrow. You'll have made it a little bit smaller, maybe shaped it a little bit, if you want to. But you can allow that piece to stay there and then take that other piece and move it to where else you want to do. If you want to take it out fully, then just dig it out fully and move it, and the same goes for almost all of those, all all of those perennials that you've that you mentioned there steven. So in the in the dormant season, just dig them up completely and move them the likes of the geranium that will be setting roots down in several different positions and you can actually create new plants with any of those. Now, typically they won't those little small ones won't just move, you know, from one spot in the ground to another. You might need to take off some of those root cuttings and allow them to root into a pot and then pot them out again again next spring. But generally speaking, you can dig up any of those, either in completion or some of them can be split and move them to a new location.
Speaker 1:The one thing I do well, I anytime I'm planting, I plant using, I use mycorrhizal fungi at the base of everything I plant. That includes most of my longer term veg. I don't use it on anything that's short term, but longer term veg, like tomatoes, for example, cucumbers, courgettes, anything like that. That's in the polytunnel. I will use mycorrhizal fungi at planting time Any shrubs, perennials, even bulbs, trees, hedging, fruit bushes, anything like that. I always, anytime I plant and use mycorrhizal. But it's especially powerful when you're moving a plant within your garden.
Speaker 1:Because what mycorrhizal does? It's a fungi that occurs naturally in forests and things like that, and it attaches itself to the root zone of a plant and it can increase the root zone and the, I suppose, the plant's ability to get water and nutrients by up to 300%. So it can increase the root zone by 300%. And what it does? It acts in a symbiotic relationship with the plant. So it attaches itself to the root zone of the plant, takes from the plant what the plant doesn't need and gives it back moisture and nutrients. So it really is a beneficial ally to all plants.
Speaker 1:As I said, it's found naturally in forests and, you know, on a larger scale, within a forest this whole mycorrhizal network will be linked together and you can have areas, say, of a forest, where you might have a high bed of rock, for example, and not much, not much soil, and those trees in a dry period could be starting to go under pressure. Then there might be other trees down the hill a little bit that are in a wet zone, where there's a stream nearby or whether where it's a buggy part or whatever, but the mycorrhizal network can work together to actually transport water from the trees that are in the wet spot, that are not requiring any extra water, through this mycorrhizal network up to the trees on the dry ground. So they they work together, they act together and they help the plants. So it's a symbiotic relationship and that will be hugely beneficial to any plant that you're going to move within the garden. So it will help with the shock, because there is always a shock, no matter what plant. We'll talk about some bigger stuff in a minute, like trees and shrubs, but any plant that you go to move, you're giving it a little bit of a shock by digging up that root zone. So mycorrhizal is definitely your friend when moving plants in the garden.
Speaker 1:So in that dormant period, any perennial plants, you can definitely just dig them up, move them somewhere else, make sure you mark them, make sure you know where you have to put them back in, mulch them over afterwards and they'll come up fine in the spring, no issue whatsoever. Just make sure that you're digging down quite deep, that you're taking a good bit of the root zone. Try and take as much as you possibly can in that root zone because that will help You're still allowing that there's enough there for it to thrive afterwards. It's still going to sit there. Once you're moving in that dormant period it's not going to do anything at all until next spring. But once the springtime comes and once the temperatures come, then it will start to push out leaves, it will start to try and root in. You will have to be careful, particularly in that first year, because it may not have enough of a root zone set in and if you do get a really long, prolonged dry period you might need the water. But basically anything perennial can be moved really, really comfortably, can also be split if you don't want to move, move it completely if you just want to move a part of it really, really successfully in that winter period.
Speaker 1:The other plants that you can move so let's talk about, say, bigger shrubs. For example, at the moment I have a Magnolia stellata and to go back to what I was talking about, to start, right plant, right place it was probably the right plant in the right place at one point in time. But what has happened since is that I planted a hedge which basically runs right up to it and that hedge is now probably pushing, pushing the head or pushing the magnolia out a little bit, and the space that's left there. From it it's going to have to encroach out onto a driveway, but it's encroaching out right behind where the gate opens back. So in actual fact, at this point in time, with the hedge now, after maturing, it doesn't have, it doesn't have the space to to really, I suppose, reach its potential. So I'm definitely going to have to move that Now.
Speaker 1:As I say, at the time of planting it was a good choice in a pretty good place because it had the space to spread in both directions. But the addition of the hedge afterwards has meant that it kind of has to go one way, and that way is sort of going to force it out onto a driveway and into the way block views and so on. So now it's not the right plant in the right place. So that needs to be moved. But what am I going to do to do that? So, firstly, it's quite big In terms of height. It's not overly tall. It's probably five, maybe five and a half foot tall. It's spread quite a bit. So it's gone, gone reasonably wide.
Speaker 1:Now the the challenge with moving something like that is if you were in a nursery and your job was to sell trees every year, what you would be doing is you'd be taking that magnolia and during the, during the dormant period, you would be getting a machine or tools and you would be cutting the root zone of that plant and you'd be breaking the few major tap roots or the few major big roots that it would put out and you'd be forcing it by doing that. You'd be forcing it to create these more fibrous, smaller roots, be forcing it to create these more fibrous, smaller roots, and when these nurseries are growing these trees for root balling, they will do that cutting process, sometimes every year, maybe every second year, and, depending on how long the tree remains on the nursery, it could have got that root zone cut several, several times in order to force this fibrous root network underneath. But in my scenario, in the garden that was just planted in there and that has grown away, sent out its roots and typically it'll, you know, send out a few big ones and when there is no need for the plant to put out huge fibrous root zones, then it will will put out some, but it doesn't put out as much as what you would see on a root ball tree bought from a nursery, because it's not getting that root pruning as such. So because of that.
Speaker 1:A tree like this can be tricky to move and then you have the potential of losing the tree, which obviously you don't want to be doing. You know it was quite a nice tree going in. It has matured into a very nice tree since, in terms of size, in terms of value it's. You know it's a very nice tree, it's a very valuable tree and you certainly don't want to be losing that. So what we're going to do to try and give it every chance possible.
Speaker 1:So at the moment, as all the leaves come off it, when all the leaves have come off it, I will give it a little bit of a trimming. So over the next probably month or so, I'll give it a bit of a trimming, got to take as much growth as possible off the top without affecting it too much. That is just going to mean that there's less requirement up on top, for you know it takes the pressure off the root zone. And then I will start very, very gently and deeply and try and cut that root zone. Now I'm going to meet some big roots there that are going to need something quite substantial, maybe like a little hatchet or something to or little axe to break them. Um, but I'm going to try and lift as much as possible of that root zone. So I'm going to keep out maybe two foot all the way around. I might be able to do it with with curbs and so on, but as much as possible I'm going to try and get as much of that root out of the ground.
Speaker 1:Now I know that the root zone is not going to be as fibrous as something that I would buy from a bare root nursery but at the same time I'm going to try and get as much as I possibly can out of that during that period of end of November through to end of February thereabouts. I'm definitely going to put it into right plant, right place, into a spot where I know it's going to be happy, and I'm going to put lots of mycorrhizal fungi making contact with the roots that are there as much as possible. I'm going to make sure that the ground itself is not so hard that the roots are going to struggle to get into it. I'm also going to possibly stake it, because when I put this into its new home it's not going to have anchored itself in, it's going to be quite big and as the wind blows it can rock that tree and you get a thing called wind rock where the roots are just shaken on, you know, or get shook around a bit in the wind. They move a tiny little bit in the wind and that constant movement means that it doesn't root in quickly because you're you know, it starts to send out a root but then the wind blows and snaps it. So you're trying to get it fixed so that it actually will, you know, will bed in and will start to root in as quick as possible.
Speaker 1:I'm definitely going to make sure that it doesn't dry out next spring and because, again, even though I've reduced the requirement for water by reducing the canopy up on top, the root zone is not spread out, it's not sending out big areas immediately. I know I've added the mycorrhizal and that will help, but at the very, very early stages, if you've got dry weather, it just may not have the root zone to sustain the, the move. It's getting a shock one way or the other. So once you've dug that, it's getting a shock, and that shock and that check can really, really affect plants especially. You know, bigger stuff like what I'm talking about here.
Speaker 1:Once you get it established, once it's, you know, looking a little bit happier then I would definitely give it seaweed as well. You can give it liquid seaweed, drench around the roots on, dilute with water obviously, and that will help as well. All of that will help and allow it to sort of get established and nurse it for a little period of time. You won't have to do any of that with your little perennial plants that Stephen is talking about. Just dig them up and move them. They'll be perfectly happy. Mulch them over afterwards, use your mycorrhizal as well, but they'll be perfectly happy. The same goes for trees. So, talking about the magnolia there, that could be the same for a know a fruit tree or you know an ornamental tree or something like that.
Speaker 1:The only thing I would say is that you know, within a garden situation, your ability to move stuff is you can underestimate it. It's once a plant has bedded itself in and rooted itself in, it's a difficult job to get it moved. So you know, be aware of that before you go starting it. You know, make sure you have a bit of help if you need it. Um, because they will be well bedded in and they will put out big roots and, as I say, they won't have put out the fibrous roots on because they the need hasn't been there because we we've allowed them to just stay, driving out those long, big roots and when you chop them off that's going to be a big shock to them and it's going to be a big challenge to even move it physically. So just be aware of that.
Speaker 1:But the same principle will apply for moving trees. Up to a certain point you will need to get, you know, as much of the roots on as you possibly can. You'll need to be able to move quite a heavy weight of material, even to get it out of there. Definitely use your mycorrhizal, definitely water for the first period of time. But that's how you move plants. It's quite simple really in that it's always in the dormant phase.
Speaker 1:The only other type of moving that you will see within a garden and I'd often talk about it when it comes to planters, even if you're doing seasonal planters, I like to use small little plants within that that can be used afterwards within the garden, things like Saracoca, using them in Christmas or winter planters to get that lovely smell in the wintertime but then in the springtime if you want to refresh that and switch to a summer container that can be moved and into the garden. Same goes if you're planting, for example, a Fatsia into a summer container, goes. If you're planting, for example, a fat sea into a summer container, then come the winter time you're putting something else in. You're always able to move that plant on into a spot in the garden and always be kind of eyeing up where you would put that again, figuring back to your right plant, right place. But in that scenario, moving from a pot out into a bed, the same principle will apply you want to get as much of the root zone as you possibly can out.
Speaker 1:Watch out for if the plant has become sort of pot bound, where, if it was a round pot, for example, the roots grow out, reach the sidewall of the pot, they want to continue to grow, so they start pushing around the pot and then you end up with a lot of roots that have just gone around in a ring and when, when you put them out into the ground afterwards, if you don't disrupt that growing pattern, they will continue to grow in a ring when in the ground and then it just won't have any stability, won't be able to send out its roots far. It'll just end up what they call root bound and that's not good for a plant in terms of moving it. So if you are moving from a pot, always try and break that. You know it can happen in a square pot as well, just not as common where they will literally the roots will come out and they'll go out as far as the wall of the pot and then trace the wall around on the inside and you end up with, as I say, a root bound pot, and what you're looking to do is you're looking to disrupt that, cut that, and essentially that can be as simple as getting your spade and slicing it down the side so that you're cutting that, and then you tease out the roots and sort of make them out into, you know, anchors in all sides and then, when they get into the ground, that's the direction they're facing and that's the direction they'll grow. If you leave them the other way, going around in a circle, going around in a square, that's what they continue to do and you just won't get any stability and they won't be able to send out their. You know they won't be able to send out their. You know they won't be able to go out searching for water and nutrients the way they would be and they wouldn't be able to serve their function, I guess, for the plant. So, moving from pots, just watch out for that Same principle applies they.
Speaker 1:Typically you'll move them, especially if it's a big something, big. Move it in that dormant period as well. It just gives you a better chance of success. You do have the ability, you know, with something that's coming out of a pot, to kind of pot it on at any stage, because you're going to bring the root zone that has been sustained. It is the root zone within the pot and when you pull out a plant you're going to take all the growing media that's in that with it. So the root zone is still intact and the only thing that you need to do then, when you do get it into the ground so long as you have to get all that root zone in is to continue to water it and feed, feed it and care for it the way it was while it was in the pot.
Speaker 1:So you're, from a timing perspective, you can move pots within a garden. You can move plants within a garden coming out of pots for a lot longer window than you can with plants that are grown in the ground. So typically you could do that from. You could easily do that from September through to probably even May time. The only exception that I would say is during the summer, when you're just likely to get longer, drier periods. It's just a little bit harder on the plants. So try not to do it during those periods. But then, other than that, you can pretty much do it at all times. But then, other than that, you can pretty much do it at all times and just again ensure that when you do move it from the pot to the ground that it is, you're replicating the care that it got while it was in the pot and other than that.
Speaker 1:That's kind of I think that's kind of the moving of plants. It's. It's. It's simple in theory.
Speaker 1:In terms of timing, it's always in that dormant period. The small stuff, very, very simple Just dig them up, move them, plant them, especially perennials. You know a lot of small shrubs. No issue moving any of those. It's just when you get to bigger stuff it's physically harder and also a bit trickier in terms of, you know, in terms of making it survive. And that is the thing. Like me with this magnolia, as I say, it's quite a big, nice, valuable plant now and I definitely don't want to, you know, make any mistakes doing it. I want to make sure that I move it and move it successfully, because otherwise you're losing a very, very good plant. So yeah, keys are move it in the dormant period, move most of it in the dormant period.
Speaker 1:Ensure you're using mycorrhizal. That's brilliant for just helping that root establishment. I use it, as I say, even even when I'm not moving plants. I will always use it. Just helps with root establishment. Almost guarantees success. To be fair, water, definitely water in the early stages. Make sure to get lots of it, because that root zone has been disrupted. You're going to need to make sure that the plant is able to keep getting enough water and nutrients into itself to sustain it, especially if you've cut off large chunks of roots. Take as much root zone as you possibly can.
Speaker 1:The bigger the plant, the harder that's going to get, because physically it'll be just difficult to do it. But the more roots on you can move, the better chance you have of moving plants. The amount of times that you'll see people trying to move plants in springtime, even into summertime, it just you will not succeed. The plant needs to be dormant, and once the plant is dormant, then it's just a case of what you can physically do, and if you can physically move it and again getting it into reasonable ground, then the chances of success are very high. If you move at the wrong time of the year, the chances of success are very, very slim. So just follow those few simple principles and you should be fine with it.
Speaker 1:Definitely, the you know, the thought process for that, for this episode, has been to go back to the very, very start of it, which is right plant, right place, and that, you know, leads to making sure that you don't really have, you don't have to move plants afterwards or, in Stephen's case, all you're doing is a little bit of editing. So I think that's very, very important. I know it's kind of taking a step back, but it's also, you know, it's worthwhile. It's worthwhile thinking about it at the start, getting that right, and then you'll have less, you don't need to move anything afterwards. And definitely it has prompted the need possibly to do an episode on how to actually go about laying out a bed, layering and repetition and that type of thing, because you know that is probably the reason a lot of people end up moving things is that they don't get either the right plant, right place in terms of size or in terms of location. So you might have a lovely, lovely plant, stick it at the front of your border, but it grows tall and it blocks everything in behind it. So that's just the kind of a staging thing you want, you know, the taller things to the back of a border, mid-tier and so on, and we might talk about the various types of plants that would slot into all of those and I think that might help people you know, in terms of that very, very stark piece of right plant, right place. So I hope, steven, that answers your question. It's yeah, for for the ones that you're talking about, moving or editing, definitely no issue, just dig them. Dig them up, either in it in their entirety or, where possible. If you want to leave some of them there things like Achillea, you can just split them. Things like Hostas, you can split them. If there's a specific question on any of them, just shoot it over. But I hope that helps and hope that allows you to move the plants to where you want them to be.
Speaker 1:The very first message that Stephen sent in relation to this was about the perennials that he has grown from seed, and that's what we'll be talking about next week. So on next week's episode I'm going to give you the full list of what I'm going to grow during this grow along and give you a list of all the you know the varieties that I have. I'm also going to be growing some native plants in that. So there's basically 10 cultivated flowers, all perennials, or pretty much all perennials. There might be one in it that's not a perennial. Then I'll probably do five or six native plants as well. So I'll have a list of about 15. I'll show you how to sow all of those and you just choose the perennials. That will that suit your garden. Again, right plant, right place. Have your ideas about where you're going, where you want to plant them.
Speaker 1:The other thing to bear in mind, just as we're doing this but I'll talk about it next week is that you'll have a lot of plants, or potentially have a lot of plants, so we might not sow all the seed. What we're looking to do is have for me, like I'm looking to have, maybe six to eight plants of each of the 10 that I'm growing. That's 80 plants I don't need within a packet of. One of them that I'm growing is Achillea, for example, within the packet there's going to be 250 seeds. I don't need 250 achilles, but if I have eight or ten I've loads. So we'll have to restrain ourselves a little bit during that sewing process. But I'll give you the full list next week. I'll give you the list of anything that you're going to need to do it and how to do it step by step.
Speaker 1:I'll also do video I'm not sure where that's going to be, probably youtube or instagram or somewhere. Post a video on showing you how to actually go about sowing the seeds and then follow on afterwards. We'll see a couple of weeks after. We'll see the progress, we'll see the germination fingers crossed and then we'll do a follow-on episode again showing the potting on process. So we'd pick them out from small seedlings into slightly bigger pots and then maybe one during the winter period to show how we mine them during the winter, because another listener had a question on some beautiful perennials that she had grown and she's questioning how to overwinter them, how much to water them and so on. So we'll cover that as well. And then finally, all going well, we've got them through the winter and come next spring we have these beautiful perennial plants that are just flying ready to hit the ground and then this time next year we're looking at borders full of flower that we've grown from seed and you know, over the course of four or five videos and hopefully get to see you guys, your pictures, like Stephen's, show the success and share the success on how you know, on how this has gone, and I think that I think that'll be really good. So next week's episode is you know all about what we're going to need to get this grow along up and running and then, within a few days of that, we'll actually start showing you videos of how to go about it. So that's been this week's episode. It's hopefully that answers Stephen's questions.
Speaker 1:It's an unusual one. I hadn't thought about one about how to move plants, but I guess you know there is always the. You know a lot of people do try and move plants. So I think there's a few simple techniques, a few simple tips and once followed, you will move successfully. Without that, then potentially you're looking at moving plants and just watching them die and you don't want that. So when we're moving something, we want to give it as much of a chance as possible to hit the ground wherever you're putting it and to grow on successfully and hopefully it being the right plant in the right place at that stage, doesn't have to be moved again. Yeah, so that's been this week's episode. I hope that helped. Thanks for listening and until the next time, happy gardening, thank you.