Leave that strip of grass!

Just a quick note- those of you who have been to our short course or field day may remember that we strongly recommend a) mowing as the method for weed control during establishment, and b) leaving an unmowed strip of grass along the row, with the hazels (or other infant woody plants) in it.

This is one end of the  hazel field we planted in late July; we did get it mowed according to our own directions this time around, including one high pass over the rows themselves, in order to allow a little more light down to the tubelings.
There are a bunch of reasons to leave that strip of grass, but here's another: catch more water over the winter!