Beware the competition

Young trees or shrubs will produce most of this year’s growth over the next three months. Their need for soil nutrients, root space and, above all, water, will be greater during this time of the year than at any other.

If grass or fast-growing invasive plants grow close to their trunks, saplings and shrubs will languish. That is why it’s important to keep a ‘roundel’ — a small area of bare ground — around the bases of young, woody plants.

A standard cherry or young lilac will benefit from being encircled by up to a square metre of soil. More compact shrubs or very young trees will be fine with smaller roundels.

If the bare soil is mulched with leaf-mould, bark chips or even used potting compost, growing conditions will be even better. Competition from weeds, grass or vigorous herbaceous plants is removed, so the shrub has access to all available soil moisture.

As they mature, the root systems of trees or shrubs will grow into a widening area. By then, plants close to their trunks will be less troublesome. Your roundels could become smaller. But it’s still best not to have grass growing right up to the trunks.

With large, mature trees you can grow non-competitive plants under their branches. Spring varieties such as primroses, wood anemones, violets or bluebells will flower before the trees come into leaf.

Free-standing shrub roses or climbers are particularly fussy about root competition, so be sure to keep weeds or grass well away and spread mulches around them.