If there was no grass seeded, then whoever did the seeding was very careless. However, it doesn't change what was done in terms of the planting of the hedging material. I'm afraid it's classic poor behaviour by non gardeners, unfortunately. As they're hedging plants and not stand alone specimens, the distance is fine.
You should see the sides of the driveway so 😂 so what can I do here to try improve conditions and give them a fighting chance?
Clear all the grass from around the hedging, to increase the width/depth of the border. You may have to scrape away the top couple of inches. Then add plenty of organic matter - compost, well rotted manure etc, as a mulch - just a couple of inches will be fine. Do that regularly - ie every few months. That will gradually improve the soil structure, and also benefit the plants themselves. You may still lose a few, but it's also possible that they'll recover. Laurel is pretty hard to kill, so there's a good chance most of them will be fine. You can trim off any obviously dead foliage, and even prune each stem lightly with secateurs to encourage bushier growth, and if they start to recover and put on new growth by July or so, you can give them a small feed of something like diluted seaweed, which is ideal for foliage. Then cross your fingers The yellowing foliage may not recover, but with a bit of luck, those poorer plants might produce new, healthier foliage over the next few months.
It's a place where beautiful isn't enough of a word....
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...
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Then add plenty of organic matter - compost, well rotted manure etc, as a mulch - just a couple of inches will be fine. Do that regularly - ie every few months. That will gradually improve the soil structure, and also benefit the plants themselves. You may still lose a few, but it's also possible that they'll recover. Laurel is pretty hard to kill, so there's a good chance most of them will be fine.
You can trim off any obviously dead foliage, and even prune each stem lightly with secateurs to encourage bushier growth, and if they start to recover and put on new growth by July or so, you can give them a small feed of something like diluted seaweed, which is ideal for foliage.
Then cross your fingers
The yellowing foliage may not recover, but with a bit of luck, those poorer plants might produce new, healthier foliage over the next few months.
I live in west central Scotland - not where that photo is...