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

You can move your entire garden, plants and soil, when you relocate as a renter. Photo / 123rf

When living in a rental property, it can feel disheartening to start your own garden - knowing that when you eventually move on, you will have to leave it behind you… All that work, time and dedication!

But I am here to tell you that this is a myth. After having recently relocated myself, I can confirm it is indeed possible to entirely relocate your garden with you, as I have just successfully moved all my plants and soil (yes, soil too!) far up the coast to a new home.

In the long process, all I lost was one seed strain of poppies.

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

Summer is around the corner, so here are the steps I took to successfully relocate my garden so you can plan to start yours in your rental home today.

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

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

3. If, like me, you had to make your own soil because you were renting a property with clay-based ground, then you will 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 using bokashi and dried leaf mulch, grass clippings and horse poo. When making my soil, I make it as if I am making a compost heap. By doing this, you encourage worm activity, and I am delighted to say that after five months of sitting in sacks, I unpacked my soil with great delight to discover the richness and quality I laboured to create over the past two years - and not only that, but also the hundreds of worms just waiting to get working in the new garden. By bringing my own soil, I have saved myself more than $1000, as I transported 63 bags of soil in total.

Creating rich soil from food scraps, leaf mulch and horse poo could save you over $1000. Photo / 123rf

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

After travelling a few hundred kilometres, I simply unpacked them and surrounded them with some wind cloth to protect them. I sent them love (I even said a wee plant prayer!), and off I went overseas for a four-month trip. Whilst I was away, a friend kindly gave them a monthly spray with EM (effective micro-organisms), and that was it.

A effective micro-organisms (EM) spray can maintain a garden even when you're abroad. Photo / 123rf

I am now halfway through unpacking my garden, and I am so happy to report that with the right intentions and love, your garden can survive and relocate without a hitch. The worms are now free to roam and I am picking strawberries.

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

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