By Jensen
Oxfordshire,
United Kingdom 
We have a flower bed, next to a fence, with two dwarf cooking apple trees, and one dwarf eating apple tree, in it which were planted by a previous owner. There are two large trees right behind the fence in the neighbouring garden, and one of these is a cooking apple tree. Each year we weed the flower bed, but the earth in it is hard, and this makes the digging hard. Is there anything we can put in it to make it softer? I have mentioned the trees in case this is anything to do with it. We do not take any interest in them or eat their apples, as we have some other eating apple trees elsewhere in the garden.
9 Jun, 2015
Answers
Add as much mulch as you can - home made compost, chopped leaves in autumn, even rotted lawn mowings, it all helps. Don't try to dig too near the trees or you are in danger of damaging the roots. (And rather than waste the apples can you find someone to give them to? Seems such a shame to waste them.)
9 Jun, 2015
Thanks for your replies. I know what you mean about the apples Steragram. We also have a large, mature Bramley apple tree, which yields hundreds of apples, as well as the Jupiter and the Russet apple trees, and I do give them to friends. A lot of the Bramley apples bruise and crack when they fall, some of them even split in half when they fall from high up. However, I will see if I can find more people to give them to. It would encourage rats and mice less, which would be good, because they have gnawed through the floor of our shed, and I found lots of rat droppings inside it in the spring.
14 Jun, 2015
Have you tried putting them on Freecycle? Winemakers might be interested.
14 Jun, 2015
Previous question
You'll probably find that there are many roots from the trees which is making the ground hard to work. You could try adding well rotted manure or compost to see if that helps. Alternatively, in the winter, you could move the dwarf trees somewhere else. That might help too.
9 Jun, 2015