Bare soil is the enemy of the organic gardener, and nature will immediately fill the vacuum with any plant that will grow there, in an attempt to heal the soil—and these are the plants we often call ‘weeds’. So, if you’ve just planted a fruit tree, which inevitably results in bare soil around the tree, there’s absolutely no point trying to keep it that way, because you’ll be fighting against nature at every step, and damaging your soil in the process.

However, it’s also good to reduce the competition for moisture and nutrients around your young fruit trees, at least in the first year or so of life. So, what’s the best strategy?

Read the article in Winter – Week 6.