Hello, thank you for all your responses they have been helpful. From your description i believe the bumps are scale and i have been able to remove the majority of them quite easily. I would prefer not to use sprays as i use the leaves in cooking - will the scale stop coming back if the plant is more healthy?

I dont think it is root bound as it is only a small bush but perhaps there is not enough goodness in the soil? I was watering and feeding it weekly until the leaves started to drop and then i began to doubt what i was doing and stopped. So havent fed it for a couple of months. So should i still repot it? How often should i water / feed?

Also should i cut it back or not? - it looks a little stragly now that most of the leaves on the branches have fallen with only the end leaves still hanging on

What position is best for it? I bought it in january (winter) and it was on my windowsill doing really well until spring time around april (when i guess the windowsill gets too much sun) I moved it in the garden to an area which probably was still too sunny so expect that was why the leaves were truning red so i have now placed it in a more shaded area.

Just in response to some of your questions i moved it outside when the frosts had finished and i had seen the scale and was worried they would hatch into loads of flies in my house! From what you have said i think it couldnt cope on the windowsill as the weather got warmer / sunnier and with it being in a small pot there was little nutrients in it.