Really want to save this old fella, but not prepared to throw big bucks at it yet (too many irons in the fire, atm) It's probably the last of the original plantings left in a Victorian orchard.   If I do mulch out to the drip line, should I strip the grass and risk damaging feeder roots, or lay a permeable membrane and cover with woodchip etc?   Please excuse my ignorance, as i have yet to mulch a large tree in such a densely grassed area before.   Many thanks