In article , Janet Baraclough
wrote:

The message m
from VX contains these words:

I've been
reading some of the instructions here and there for looking after new
roses/hedging/etc and there are several injunctions to never let the things
dry out for the first year.

In many parts of the country, you could water them once, at planting,
and never need to water them again. It all depends on your local
rainfall, the kind of soil you have, the lie of your land.

Continued watering of plants in the open garden soil is very often
bad practice, exactly the opposite of what they need. Watering
encourages the new roots to head upwards towards the wet soil surface,
becoming very much more vulnerable to drought. If you don't water, the
roots will head downwards to where soil is naturally cool and damp and
be better able to withstand drought.

Watering correctly doesn't do that. Light watering of anything will do
more harm than good. Thorough watering is what's needed so that the
soil is wetted to below the roots so that the roots don't come up
looking for more.

You would be taking a very big risk with new hedges or other shrubs if
you only gave them an initial watering.

Professional gardeners keep watering thoroughly even while it's raining
since most of our showers don't deliver enough.