Hi, I'd just like to know why the colour of my bay leaves are changing Is this normal? Also if I want it to grow into round ball,should I just leave for some time before pruning?
April was a terrible time to plant any shrub, for the reasons @Dovefromabove has given. Any shrub needs well watered for some months after planting, until established, especially in drier spells. Rain doesn't always penetrate the canopy of an evergreen well enough. It has to be persistent, and quite heavy, for a good few hours to do the same job as a bucket of water at the roots.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
I never got a bay tree thru winter in Belgium @pansyface, indoors or out. Here we have two whoppers, well-established but even they have suffered a bit thru the cold, dry April we all seem to have had.
@Zahid_63c you need to water any newly planted generously before planting, after planting and all thru it's first spring and summer if you plant it as late as you did so that it can get its roots down as well as spend energy maintaining foliage above ground. Give it a generous bucketful of water poured slowly so it soaks in. Repeat at least once a week, even if it rains. Do this all summer until the autumn rains set in.
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast. "We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
I use a hosepipe and spray gun but then I've counted how many seconds of full pressure hose water I need to fill a 15l bucket or watering can so I don't under water.
Giving too little encourages the roots to stay up near the surface when it's damp and they they get fried when it's hot and you've not watered so "a lot and once a week" is much better than "little and often".
Vendée - 20kms from Atlantic coast. "We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
You need to be able to adjust the spray gun/nozzle so that it pours gently so as not to dislodge the soil around the roots, and slowly enough that the water soaks in and doesn't run off the root zone. Some of them are very fierce, particularly at close range.
Doncaster, South Yorkshire. Soil type: sandy, well-drained
Posts
April was very dry ... did you give it plenty of water ... and is there a membrane under the gravel?
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
It's been raining so haven't watered much
Only planted in April
What should I do?
Any shrub needs well watered for some months after planting, until established, especially in drier spells.
Rain doesn't always penetrate the canopy of an evergreen well enough. It has to be persistent, and quite heavy, for a good few hours to do the same job as a bucket of water at the roots.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
If you live in Derbyshire, as I do.
@Zahid_63c you need to water any newly planted generously before planting, after planting and all thru it's first spring and summer if you plant it as late as you did so that it can get its roots down as well as spend energy maintaining foliage above ground. Give it a generous bucketful of water poured slowly so it soaks in. Repeat at least once a week, even if it rains. Do this all summer until the autumn rains set in.
"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw
Giving too little encourages the roots to stay up near the surface when it's damp and they they get fried when it's hot and you've not watered so "a lot and once a week" is much better than "little and often".
"We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing." - George Bernard Shaw