In the first week or so after planting it is wise to keep an eye out for the first signs that your plants may be struggling to settle in to their new home. Look out for yellowing leaves, brown patches on leaves and levels of perkiness and you’ll catch things nice and early if there is a problem. These are all an indication that your plant is not getting what it needs from the soil and the most common reason for this is that there’s not enough moisture in the soil. Remember, when your plants are new they have not yet put their roots down effectively and so are more dependent on you.
You’ll often find that a plant that is wilting will bounce back very quickly, or that a plant that has yellow leaves suddenly starts producing nice new green leaves within just a few hours or so of a thorough watering. Even those instances where the leaves turn brown and crispy (and look a bit burnt!) can be an indicator that the plant isn’t getting enough water as the plant sends any fresh water supply to new leaves and allows old leaves to die off instead.
By keeping an eye on these things you can be sure to react quickly to give your plants the water that they need in the early days without drowning them. In turn this will lead to healthier, stronger plants that won’t need quite so much TLC as they mature.