For the most part I agree with previous comments. I would only say trees do have roots in the top few inches of soil,lots of them. ALL the plants we grow require air in root zone to survive and there isn't much deeper down. Not only will plastic and cardboard cut off light to soil,it prevents moisture getting to soil. Sufficating grass will sufficate tree roots as well. Depending on how long the cover is in place it might not to kill trees but will undeniably harm their overall health starting day one. Short of digging an olympic pool size hole and backfillihg with improved soil,composting has little effect on a tree over it's life,EXCEPT the first years. Because of shock from transplanting,it is wise to afford every advantage possible to new plantings. For future planting sites I suggest tilling an area aproximating drip line of mature tree in question. If such large area seems to conterdict what I said above regarding lack of benifit to mature trees,I'm allways concurned about compactation during construction. It also alows puting turf in so roots arn't desturbed latter. If one has the equipment,chisel plowing intire yard should be considered in cases where mixer trucks and/or other heavy equipment has packed soil, You should already have soil test results in hand. Incorperate admendments as deep as tiller will reach. Set up bed retainer for at least 25% size of tiiled area. Plant annuals in bed and desired lawn and/or ground cover in remainder. Bed should be mulched minium of 3 years following placment of tree. Any time after 3+ years,retainer can be pulled allowing turf or ground cover reaching trunk if desired. If one uses a lawn service,leaving retainers will minimize weedeater damage to trunk. See if your city offers compost. That allows getting it fresh and from a likly professionally supervised operation. Since your trees are in place,do the above EXCEPT the following difference. Till only outside area where roots have grown to (3' dia circle).

I am in the "yes" camp in answer to this question -- fall or spring, whatever suits your schedule and thevagaries of weather, time availability, etc. I have usually done late winter (not spring...) cleanup, usually about late February. I personally think it is a matter of personal taste and time availability and weather. Though I am not much of a fan of the "dead brown grass winter garden" (apologies to those out there who love it....), I DO think that the mixed or perennial border can be very lovely in November before the snows hit. So I do want to leave the border standing through that month. If December isn't too cold and I have the time I have cut back then. Most of the time not For me, the best time to cut things back is on that rare day in February when the weather warms up and it might even be sunny. A little taste of spring. Great to work out in the garden. Garden chores almost seem welcome. Main thing to remember I think is that if you have lots of bulbs in your borders, you want to get the cutback completed before they start to emerge. Not good to tromp on new bulb foliage.

I returned this morning from what has become a twice weekly run to rid the yard here at home of organic wastes and prep the soil in a garden a few miles away. Today's haul was 7 5-gallon buckets of green "stuff." I pulled the spent China aster plants out of part of 1 of the beds in the cutting garden, went to work with the shovel, and buried the asters and the green stuff under 8 inches of dirt. Several weeks ago, I was busy doing this in a bed in the little veggie garden where the potatoes had been harvested earlier. That bed is now growing fall crops of mustard greens, bok choy and lettuce. I like doing things like this even if it takes all that shovel work. There's no compost pile to move around - well, there's one at another garden. By digging out only about 25 square feet at a time, I make steady progress without killing myself and all the material is instantly gotten rid of. Eight inches of soil is adequate for any small plant. By the '10 growing season, decomposition will be well underway and any plant will live for quite a good number of weeks in the top of the bed before its roots ever reach the 'o9 organic matter I've been burying. I'll add fertilizer to that top 8 inches in the Spring. Also, by the time I'm done with whatever beds I can finish this year - the garden will have a well-cultivated look going into the snows of Autumn. Steve Here is a link that might be useful: from a few years ago, with a few photo's

Awesome pics everyone! I feel like I'm in a different country with the grass now going dormant. Doesn't help that we're having winter like temps. We got 1.5" of rain a few days ago so that helps going into winter. Oh fun...looks like 1-2 of snow tomorrow morning now that I'm checking the weather. Sometimes we don't get that until mid December.