moving lavendar

[bikermike]

alas, not a fragrant triffid, but I have a lavender bush in what will be the wrong place in the future. It's on the corner of a bed. It'll be fine this year as I'm putting green manure and bee-friendly seeds in, but it's not thriving at the moment and is a bit squashed by the netting.

When is the best time to move such a shrub?

[nickdub]

as long as its not out of the ground more than 30 minutes, any time will do.

the fact that its not doing too well could be down to the very wet weather we've been having - if so best to prepare wherever its going with plenty of stone and grit to improve drainage before the move.

[bikermike]

excellent! I can put it off then...

[nickdub]

Yes indeed - most of the advice you see in gardening books etc about times to move plants is really targeted at the case where people were buying from nurseries or similar, and the time out of the ground was going to be at least a week. In case where you are moving stuff in your own garden, and you can get a good root-ball out, you can be a lot more cavalier.

Obviously if you were trying to move a large deciduous tree, then you'd do it when it was dormant, but for most other plants you can get away with quite a bit.

[DannyK]

Take some cuttings just in case.

[bikermike]

when is the best time to do that?

I made an accidental cutting from another lavender that was an offshoot that fell off in re-potting, so I stuck it in it's own pot with a dome over it (aka a waitrose custard pot), and it's come on nicely...

[nickdub]

Cuttings would usually be done in Autumn, but no harm trying any time - alternatively if the branches are bendy enough you can layer it by getting it down to soil level putting a little more soil on top, then a large stone or brick - pretty much guaranteed to work for most semi-woody shrubs.

[bramble]

Biker Mike. If you're layering your lavender just pin the branches down using a hairpin. Just push it in the soil and twist it. This will keep your cutting in the soil until it roots.
This is a great way to take strawberry runners as well.
Hope this helps.