I figured it was a bit of a gamble to topdress my fruit trees in November last year instead of waiting until spring.  The danger is that if you feed them too early, the trees might put out extra top growth, which would winter-kill.  On the other hand, feeding and mulching your trees in the fall can promote root growth during the period between when the leaves fall and when the ground gets cold enough to make the trees truly dormant, in essence extending your growing season.  Plus, putting compost and mulch over possibly-diseased tree leaves that have fallen to the ground prompts the latter to decompose quickly so the disease doesn't overwinter.  And, from a purely human point of view, November is a less-busy gardening month than March is, so anything I can do now lowers stress later.

And the gamble paid off.  I didn't see any winter-killing last year, so fall feeding definitely didn't hurt.  I might as well lather, rinse, and repeat this year!

First, each tree gets weeded or kill mulched (depending on how bad the weeds are), I scatter a bit of rotted horse manure around the base, then I top it all off with leaves raked out of the woods.  As you can see, rye out beyond the trees' canopy is growing well and will give me some supplemental mulch come May to carry us through the year.

(And, look!  It seems like my hybrid hazel will fruit for the first time next year if the number of flower buds is any indication!  I'd better get Mark at work designing a nut cracker.)

Getting to spend time around my fruit trees is always a treat, no matter what the season.  I always notice something new, like the lichen coating the trunks of my apple trees.  My peaches don't seem to grow lichen, maybe because they grow more quickly, or perhaps the bark is just the wrong texture?  Either way, the eye candy is appreciated.