HELP!! Digging Up Plants In Winter??

North Lewisburg, OH

Hi! I'm Currently Living In An Apartment, With A Beautiful Garden, But We Finally Got A House! (Yay!) My Dilemma, Is That We're Supposed To Be Moving March 1st, And There Is Snow On The Ground.. I Live In Central Ohio. (Staying In Same Town.) How Do I Go About Digging Up/Storing My Bulbs And Flowers To Take With Me, Without Killing Them?? It's Mostly Hosta, Irises And A Pretty Decent Sized Daisy Plant.. Also, Another Couple Plants I Have Yet To Identify.. They Seem Pretty Hearty, But I'm New To Gardening And Have No Idea How To Move All My Pretty Babies!! Help!!

Calgary, AB(Zone 3b)

Is your ground frozen? If it is, replacing your favourites with the same or different varieties is really the only option.

If the ground is not frozen, you could dig whatever you like (depending what it might say in your lease, perhaps? - worth checking) and put them in pots. Store the pots in the garage, if you have one, or place them together and perhaps just mulch around and over them. Then plant in your new place once you get possession.

P.S. Why are you capitalizing every word? ;-) It must be rather inconvenient to do, as well as unnecessary.


North Lewisburg, OH

Thank You, So Much!! The Ground Is Currently Frozen, But I'm Hoping It Won't Be When We're Ready To Move! The Lease Is No Problem, Since There Was Nothing There When We Moved In, And I've Had Problems With The Landlord Mowing Over My Plants (On Purpose) And Weed Wacking When They Aren't In Bloom.. Ugh. So Anyway, They Won't Miss Them!! I'm Just Really Hoping To Take Them With Me Because The New House Has No Flowers, Whatsoever. :O

**To Answer Your Question;; I Capitalize Because I'm Obsessive Compulsive, And It Makes Me Feel Better.. :/ People Ask Me That Very Often. Lol.

Deary, ID

A trick I use in the winter is an old metal garbage can lid, I build a fire on it over the ground I want to thaw. Granted, I am generally using this to unthaw the ground for digging a post hole or what not, but this could potentially work for your plants as well. Once the ground is thawed it should be plenty soft enough for easy digging, I would advise checking with the landlord first though, a bunch of muddy holes may not make you popular in that regard.

Calgary, AB(Zone 3b)

Quote from mommyzombie :

**To Answer Your Question;; I Capitalize Because I'm Obsessive Compulsive, And It Makes Me Feel Better.. :/ People Ask Me That Very Often. Lol.


Good answer, helps me to understand. :-) All the best.

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