There are a few things that removals companies don’t really like to move, and one of them is plants. Think about it – the possibility of soil all over the truck, broken pots and the likelihood of damaging the plants in transit makes it an unpleasant concept.
However, that doesn’t mean you can’t move your plants yourself, but it’s worth considering in advance how much time you’ll need, how much space you have in your car and how you can prepare your plants for moving day.
Small household plants
If these are easy enough to transport and you want to keep them, but you have a large number, you could ask different friends to keep hold of them for a little while. Think of it like plant sitting. When you’re settled in your new home, they can bring the plants over.
This can save on the difficulty of trying to transport plants of various types and sizes in the back of the car in one go, especially if you have other items for your move (like your
Moving Day Survival kit). However, if you would rather do this, then arrange them in a crate, put packing material in between the pots to stop any movement, and be sure to cover the back of your car or boot in a blanket to catch any flyaway soil. You could also line the crate with a waterproof sheet in case any water drips through the bottom.
Depending on the length of the journey you may want to water the plants a good amount of time before placing them in the car to avoid unnecessary mess, and then just briefly spritz with a water spray bottle on the journey.
Repotting
For medium sized potted plants, you could repot them a few weeks before in plastic pots. This will make transport easier and lighter, lower the risk of breaking ceramics and mean you can properly pack the pots for use in your new home. This also means that the empty ceramic pots could be transferred by the removals company, making lighter work for you.
Digging up garden plants
If there are plants in your garden that perhaps have a sentimental value and you don’t want to leave behind, you can transport them to your new garden with a bit of work.
As with above, you’ll need to repot the plants into plastic pots. Give yourself a couple of weeks before your move to put them into pots, being sure to weed them and prune any dead branches. Pruning will make the plants smaller and easier to transport, with fewer branches likely to get caught on things or damaged during transit.
If moving some of the plants is just too time and labour-intensive, but you’re willing to put the work in elsewhere, you could take cuttings. These will allow you to start afresh in your new home. Take your clippings on the morning of your move and put them in a plastic bag with a few drops of water in.
If you need to move your greenhouse, you can look at our guide to
moving awkward items.