By Bidget
Lancashire,
United Kingdom 
I have just managed to buy some box plants in a 75% sale for just 99p each and so want to do another border. Could I plant them out now, or should I wait until spring.? My other question is that my neighbour is higher than me and all rainwater in running onto my garden. My laurel hedge is sat in pools of water and going brown. Will I lose them and can I insist my neighbour builds some drainage?
17 Jan, 2011
Answers
Bridget, heel your box plants into a large pot or pots of compost, keep the compost damp, you must sort the drainage problem out with your neighbours. I would say your Laurel has become waterlogged and may die.
17 Jan, 2011
I lost a whole laurel hedge because of waterlogged ground. They don't like it. That's why they're so good under trees where drainage is good and the trees take up the excess. Worthy
17 Jan, 2011
Our neighbour is slightly higher and there is a spring under their garden that used to run into ours!! But they installed a long 'box'-type metal gulley with a grill on top ( I'm sure this has a proper name!) and the water drains into a soakaway. Much better now, we don't have lawn edge 'gutters' full of water in wet weather.
18 Jan, 2011
If the ground is not frozen you can plant them out if they do not need hardening off first?
Difficult to prove its your neighbours problem and get them to act unless its something like a new drive that is causing the run off? Sounds like you may need to improve your drainage around your plants. Do you have heavy clay soil?
17 Jan, 2011