Question
I live on a ridge on the western side of the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia.  I've got a patch of ground that's fairly steeply sloping, covered mostly in grasses, with various trees living on the slope with the grasses growing around them. These trees include pear, persimmon, willow, crab apple, hawthorne, sugar maple. None of them are at present mulched.  My question: is the lack of mulching around the tree a mistake?  do they need it, or at least would it significantly help them for me to create a growth-free, mulched area around them?  And if so, am I at liberty to shape the mulched area as I wish, for landscaping purposes, or is it important to use the conventional circular area (bowl with mulch) around them?

THank you for your counsel.

Answer
No mature trees do not need a mulch around them. The mulch serves a couple of purposes--as a newly planted tree it helps hold moisture around the roots increasing the growth, in older trees it serves as a barrier to keep lawn mower and trimmer operators away from the tree trunk to keep down damage.

Mulching trees on a slope would be difficult in keeping the mulch from washing down hill. But it can be done and yes mulch can be placed in all sorts of shapes not just the round circle. In this case of a "fairly steep slope" I think I would not mulch but beware of the trees as you trim grass near them and not damage the trunks.