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A common observation in gardens that have been tended 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 confidence and curiosity as those restless interior design lovers who change their curtains twice a year with the changing of the clocks.

The longest I’ve ever had a plot is five years, but even in that span it seems as though I made several different gardens. The suck-it-and-see approach of transplanting a specimen that isn’t terribly happy has been a stalwart of mine since I started pot cultivation on a minuscule terrace.

Yes, there’s a risk that moving a plant may stress or test it, but it’s also a free and relatively easy way of playing with new contours, structures, and concepts in your plot, regardless of its dimensions. And I’d argue 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 symbolically lovely time to do it.

If you’d rather be more formal, draw a plan of your borders, whether existing or planned, to help position specimens in their new place.

If you live in an area that has been wet enough to become waterlogged, or completely iced over, then postpone it until a calm Saturday in January instead. But if things are simply chilly, moist, and dormant out there, you’ve got the perfect conditions for shuffling some plants around, 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 cramped in an undersized container or appearing quite poorly – because the chances are 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 out there. But if you’d prefer a methodical plan, create a diagram of your beds, whether existing or planned, to help get things in their new place. Ready the new planting hole before you dig anything up: excavate a space 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 organic matter or mature compost. Then dig up, place, and firm in firmly and give a good water to celebrate the plant’s fresh abode.

Depending on the plant, you may not witness the results of your work for a couple of weeks, but there’s a satisfaction in this, too. During this period, you can enjoy your new planting arrangement through its bare-bones framework; and if it’s not to your liking, have another shuffle before the season arrives. A new perspective on the garden for the new year.