How to move your garden when you’re a renter and moving house

When you live in a rental propertyit can feel disheartening to start your own garden – knowing that when you eventually move on, you’ll have to leave behind…
All that work, time and dedication!

But I am here to tell you that this is a myth. Having recently moved myself, I can confirm that everything is indeed possible move your garden with you, as I have just successfully moved all my plants and soil (yes, soil too!) away from the coast to a new home.

In the long process, all I lost was a single variety of poppies.

With the rising cost of living these days, growing your own food is an effective way to feed yourself and your family for less. It also gives you the peace of mind that you are eating in your own garden when national supply issues arise from time to time.

Summer is just around the corner, so here are the steps I took to successfully move my yard so you can plan to start your rental home today.

1. When you plant a garden as a renter and use frames to support your plants, remember to use screws instead of nails. These can be easily removed and your garden flat-packed, ready for the move.

2. If you buy land to build your garden beds, save all yours dirt bags. Day to day, you can use these to collect and store your leaves, and then when the time is right to move, you can fill these bags with garden soil to move to your next home.

3. If, like me, you have to make your own soil because you rented a property with clay-based soil, then you know exactly the effort, time and love that went into creating it and the value it holds. I made all my soil from my food scraps with bokashi and dry leaf mulch, grass clippings and horse poo. When I did my soil, I pretended I was making a compost pile. By doing this, you encourage worm activity, and I am pleased to say that after five months of sitting in sacks, I opened my soil with great pleasure to discover the wealth and quality that I have worked to create in the last two years – and not only that, but also the hundreds of worms. just looking forward to working in the new garden. By bringing my own soil, I saved over $1000, as I carried 63 bags of soil in total.

4. Before digging, all my plants were sprayed with microbes and diluted bokashi juice. This helped to strengthen them, as this powerful elixir works as a vegetable tonic to support them during stress. I sprayed them again with the same mix when I transplanted, and then again when they were transported. All the plants were put in crates, poly trays and even garden bags with a layer of cardboard on the bottom, and dug out with the soil they were planted with. Any seeds that have been formed on the plants are scattered in these containers and bags.

After traveling a few hundred kilometers, I simply unwrapped it and surrounded it with some windproof fabric to protect it. I felt love (I even said a little plant prayer!), and went overseas for a four-month trip. While he was away, a friend gave him a monthly spray with EM (effective microorganisms), and that was it.

I’m now halfway through clearing my garden, and I’m so happy to report that with the right intentions and love, your garden can survive and move without a hitch. The worms are now free to roam and I harvest strawberries.

So, if you are not currently in your home forever and have put off your dream of starting your garden and growing your own food, this message is for you: Plant, you can do it too!

For more gardening tips, visit growinspired.co.nz and explore Claire Mummery’s online gardening course at growinspiredacademy.com.