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A common observation in gardens that have been tended by the same person – or people – is that the best ones never stay 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 swap out their drapes biannually with the seasonal time shifts.

The longest I’ve ever had a plot is five years, but even in that time I feel as though I made a multitude of distinct spaces. The suck-it-and-see approach of transplanting a specimen that isn’t terribly happy has been a trusted strategy since I started container gardening on a tiny balcony.

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 playing with new contours, structures, and concepts in your plot, regardless of its dimensions. 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 gradually start to stretch out again, is a beautifully symbolic time to do it.

If you’d prefer a structured approach, draw a plan of your borders, whether existing or planned, to help position specimens in their fresh location.

If you live in an area that has been damp to the point of boggy, or completely iced over, then postpone it until a calm Saturday in January instead. But if things are simply cool, damp and docile out there, you’ve got the ideal circumstances for rearranging your greenery, because many long-lived plants are resting. I recommend you begin with the things that are causing you slight concern – whether it’s because you wish they were growing better, they’re frustrated in a too-small pot or appearing quite poorly – because the likelihood is that a different position will only improve things.

One of my most cherished aspects about gardening is the remarkably fluid process of how ideas develop once I’m in the garden. But if you’d rather be more formal, draw up a sketch of your beds, whether current or envisioned, to help place items in their new place. Ready the new planting hole before you dig anything up: dig a hole that’s generously deep and more spacious than the anticipated rootball (look to the base of the specimen for a useful indicator), and add some mulch or well-rotted compost. Then dig up, place, and firm in securely and provide a thorough watering to celebrate the plant’s new home.

Depending on the plant, you won’t see the results of your work for a few weeks yet, but there’s a satisfaction in this, too. While you wait, you can enjoy your new planting arrangement through its bare-bones framework; and if it’s not working for you, have another shuffle before the season arrives. A new perspective on the garden for the new year.