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I know not everyone agrees with its use, but I spray glyphosate on the couch around my raspberries. I have cut the bottom off a big water bottle which I place over the grass clumps and spray through the top opening. This makes sure none gets onto the fruit bushes - only onto the grass inside the bottle.I do this once a year, early in the season, but when it is clear where the new growth is, so I can avoid it. Lasts for the year here.
The back quarter of my allotment has always been reserved for fruit. I have strawberries, two apple trees a number of blackcurrant bushes and blackberries (one trailing and one bush). These do well. I also have a few struggling raspberry bushes and currently a dead looking small gooseberry bush.One constant a battle I have though is with couch grass. After twenty-five years on the plot, I have managed to more or less get it cleared from the non-fruit part of the plot. But several times I have dug it out of the fruit area only for it to come back with a vengeance.Having visited a few commercial fruit farms recently I noticed they simply let the grass grow and just mow/strim it as necessary. However, they do make sure that there is a grass free area around the plants. So I have decided to live with it. But if I dig and the area around my raspberries etc how do I stop the grass encroaching? Any ideas/experiences would be gratefully received