My boyfriend and I bought our first home with a garden. It is full of beds with beautiful perennials and flowers. Some would cheer, but we are most concerned with how we get rid of them - can we give them away? Yes, says Lars Lund, and gives these good advices on how.

We have bought a home with a garden, which is full of flowers and beds in all shapes and sizes. It is certainly beautiful, but I am certainly not a gardener, and I have never had green fingers, so my boyfriend and I were overwhelmed by the thought of the many beds and flowers that would have to be cared for if we were to keep the garden as it is.

We are both of the opinions that gardening should not require too much of our time, but at the same time, we also love self-sufficiency. We dream of growing vegetables in the greenhouse and a small kitchen garden in the back of the garden. In the rest of the garden, there must be room for playing football, cartwheels or something completely different.

If that dream is to come true, we have come to the conclusion that the only thing to do is to get rid of the flower beds and replace them with raised beds for vegetable cultivation. Therefore, the big headline for this year is to get rid of the flower beds that we with guarantee know we do not want. The flower bed along the house will be removed at first so that we can get more space and a wider lawn. Instead of throwing away the flowers at the tip, the plan is to invite friends and family to take home some of the plants.

I have therefore consulted with the Greenhouseforum’s garden expert and journalist Lars Lund about what I need to do so that my plants can get a life somewhere else. Lars Lund has a number of good tips for moving the plants.

Depending on whether it is flowers or perennials that need to be moved, they have different living conditions that need to be taken into account.

Flowers

There are summer flowers and perennials. The summer flowers are either annual or biennial.

Annuals: they bloom the same year, they are sown, and you only have them for one year.

Biennials: these flowers develop leaves and stems the first year and bloom the second year. These flowers can be moved when they have developed in the first year, or if you sow them in pots and then transplant them.

Perennial

Perennials: which I definitely think is what you have - are divided into two groups.

Those that come early in the year and those that come later.

The perennials can easily be moved and divided into several perennials, just by cutting them with a spade.

The rule of thumb for when it is best to move perennials:

• The early perennials: these should usually be moved in the autumn, as they have gone into dormant.
• The late perennials: these should usually be moved in the spring, as they have gone into dormant.

Lars says that it is an advantage to move the perennials as early as possible - preferably in March or April, but that you can easily move both groups of perennials almost the entire season. You just have to be aware that the perennials must be well irrigated in the new place and irrigated until they look healthy again. I'm glad that I quickly pushed the thought away of throwing out the perennials.

Now I want to face spring with some optimism. The bad conscience of getting rid of the beds is now not so burdensome, and the joy of giving the perennials to others is fortunately greater.

Many wishes

Louise, Greenhouseforum