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Avoid This Mistake If You Want To Keep Your Fruit Tree Happy & Healthy
By KATE NICHOLSON
If your fruit tree is looking unhealthy or producing lackluster fruit, check if the soil around it is bare. If it is, you should try covering this area with mulch.
In a forest, a layer of leaf litter or mulch collects around a tree. Without this layer, water evaporates from the soil before it can be absorbed by tree roots.
Just as trees in a forest need this protection, so do your fruit trees. Mulching also provides a slow release of much-needed nutrients and reduces weed growth.
A mulch can be as simple as laying tree trimmings around but not against a trunk and squishing fallen fruit into the soil. There are also plenty of mulch types available to buy.
Remove any grass covering the ground below your fruit tree and spread compost around the base, followed by a layer of mulch about 4 inches thick and 13 square feet wide.