Advice on planting potted Portguese Laurels

lukeyp

Hello all!

Firstly, you should be aware that I have absolutely no idea what I'm talking about when it comes to gardening, so take it easy on me...

I'm planting 9 Portguese Laurels (photo 1) in a retaining wall (photo 2) in my garden on Monday.  The purpose is to make an instant screen above the wall for privacy.

Just looking for general advice on how to go about doing this well.  I've read a few horror stories on this forum of hedges dropping all their leaves after being removed from their pot and re-planted, and I'd like to avoid that of course.

No idea what state the roots are in yet but happy to take a photo if needed tomorrow.

The soil in the retaining wall is currently full of dried cement from rendering the wall - how thouroughly does this need to be cleaned out?

Any advice appreciated - even as to what compost I should be using.

Thanks in advance.

Dovefromabove

Hi Luke and welcome

What are the dimensions of that planting space and what drainage arrangements are there?

I must say that to me it looks far too small for those trees 

Last edited: 25 August 2017 12:08:05

lukeyp

Hi Dovefromabove!

Thanks for replying.

The planting space is 6.5m long, 0.65m deep and 0.7m high.  

My assumption as far as drainage was concerned was that it would freely drain into the soil beneath...

I'm definitely not building that wall again - I'm as little a builder as I am a gardener 

lukeyp

I should mention I'm not actually looking for much more growth from the trees (except a bit of thickening up).  I'm pretty happy with the existing height.