Help! What veg plants can I take when I move?

[Noodles]

At short notice I'm being forced to move out of my rented house I'm not so bothered about the house but I have 2 veg patches in the garden plus 3 small fruit trees planted there as well. Fortunately a lot of the stuff is in tubs but the following are in the ground:

- Garlic
- One lot of potatoes
- Butternut squash
- Courgettes
- Spring Onions
- Strawberries
- Broad beans
- Mange tout & sugarsnaps

I probably have about a month left in the house so most of the above won't have matured by then. I'm lucky to have an allotment that will be able to take a lot of it but will it all be alright being dug up and moved?

Obviously the potatoes won't so I'll either have to dig them up before I go, leave them for the landlord or see if he will let me come and harvest them at a later date. The squash, courgettes and strawberries haven't been in the ground that long so hopefully they haven't rooted too deeply. I'll try and move the spring onions but am not too fussed about them. The fruit trees will be a sod to dig up and move but hopefully they will survive. What can I do about the garlic? I checked and it is nowhere near ready to harvest yet, can I move it or will I be better leaving it and trying to arrange to harvest after I move out? Broad beans and mange tout are too big and tangled to move so they'll have to stay, just hoping I get the best of them over the next few weeks.

Any tips or advice anyone?

[crichmond]

You can move the garlic but you will have to make sure you get a sizable amount of the roots and soil so you dont destroy all the root system.
Or you could harvest the garlic early chop it up and freeze it to preserve it.

The fruit trees should move with no problems although you may lose this years fruit.

[Noodles]

Thanks crichmond, the garlic is still really tiny so if I can't leave it and harvest at a later date I'll carefully dig up the lot and re-plant at my allotment.

The fruit trees are only babies so I wasn't expecting fruit off them this year anyway, fingers crossed the move won't set them back too much.

[Pumpkin Becki]

If you've got some old compost bags, you could try rolling the tops down to make dumpy containers and replant your courgettes and squash into these (take really big rootballs when you dig them up to lessen the shock). If you do this now rather than just before you move in a months time, the rootball and plant should be less developed and therefore easier to pot-up.

I would have thought your broadies would be just about finished by the time you move, so you might as well leave them where they are.

Mange Tout and Sugarsnaps, not sure...hopefully someone else can help you with them.

[gadgetman]

Thanks crichmond, the garlic is still really tiny so if I can't leave it and harvest at a later date I'll carefully dig up the lot and re-plant at my allotment.

The fruit trees are only babies so I wasn't expecting fruit off them this year anyway, fingers crossed the move won't set them back too much.

Either your landlords selling or being repossessed is how I gather things from your post.

Either way, you will not have rights to return after you leave. Take what you want/need to NOW. You will not be able to return for it, and will have no legal standings or right of way to do so. Anything you leave behind after you leave becomes the property of the owner of the property. As such you could be done for theft.

Sorry to sound harsh, but thats the risk you ran growing in a rented property.

[Noodles]

Thanks gadgetman but it's a bit more complicated than that. I actually rent a room from the landlord who owns and lives in the house (and will continue to do so). I've been here for over 4 years and we're good friends but he now has a live-in girlfriend so doesn't want a lodger any more. I'm pretty upset about having to move out as I've been very happy here and have worked my butt off sorting out the garden (with his blessing and support) but it's his house so I don't have a choice.

Hence, I would prefer to take what I can with me when I go for ease but if it will ruin a crop I'm sure we can come to some arrangement for me to harvest at a later date. I just want to move things that a) I can fairly easily without doing to much damage or b) which are pretty likely to die or suffer hugely once I've moved out and they aren't properly maintained e.g. squash that need a lot of watering.

[zazen999]

- Garlic - dig up and replant at the lottie
- One lot of potatoes - probably not, unless you put into a big pot now and let it mature there...
- Butternut squash - as PB said - into large bags now
- Courgettes - ditto
- Spring Onions - yes, you can move these, just dig up a good rootball
- Strawberries - yes, better moving them into one small pot each - I'd get some of those plant trays free at homebase/B&Q that their pots come in, and plant one in each hole.
- Broad beans probably not, depending on how big they are but if they aren't too huge, you could dig up and plant into big pots and pop a cane in the middle - but broadies are coming to and end soon [depending on when you sowed of course].
- Mange tout & sugarsnaps - ditto

[Noodles]

Thanks zazen, that sounds like a perfect plan! I'm going to get digging and transporting tonight.

[gadgetman]

Thanks for clarifying Noodles.

If you do get an agreement, get it in writing. Verbal agreements are worthless.