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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. People who truly love their plots shuffle things around all the time, with the same assurance and inquisitiveness as those restless interior design lovers who change their curtains twice a year 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 a multitude of distinct spaces. The trial-and-error method of transplanting a specimen that isn’t terribly happy has been a stalwart of mine since I started pot cultivation on a tiny balcony.

Yes, there’s a chance that relocating a plant may overwhelm or challenge it, but it’s also a free and relatively easy way of playing with new shapes, forms and ideas 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 new place.

If you live in an area that has been wet enough to become waterlogged, or completely iced over, then save it for a calm Saturday in January instead. But if things are simply cool, damp and docile 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 hope for more vigorous growth, they’re cramped in an undersized container or appearing quite poorly – because the likelihood is that a different position will only enhance their situation.

One of my favourite things about gardening is the remarkably fluid process of how plans unfurl once I’m out there. But if you’d rather be more formal, draw up a sketch of your beds, whether existing or planned, to help place items in their new place. Ready the new planting hole before you dig anything up: dig a hole that’s amply deep and larger than the anticipated rootball (look to the base of the specimen for a good guide), and add some organic matter or mature compost. Then lift, plonk, bed down securely and provide a thorough watering to mark the plant’s fresh abode.

Depending on the plant, you may not witness the results of your work for a few weeks yet, but there’s a pleasure in this process, too. During this period, you can appreciate the revised layout 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 coming year.