[Eblana]

I set about weeding my fruit beds yesterday, two of which have been heavily mulched with compost and the other two have had no mulch.  I found that the two with the mulch were much easier to weed and even the couch grass came out much easier with root and all, it felt like the roots of the couch had moved up towards the nice soft compost and were much easier to pull out, whereas the couch in the non mulched beds broke off when I tried to pull it.   Is this just my imagination or could it be the case because if it is everything will be getting a really good mulch of compost in future.

[Trikidiki]

Rain will cause a degree of compaction which may account for it, whereas the looser mulch does not compact so much.

[New shoot]

I heavily mulch my fruit beds.  Alas this was not enough when the next door plot was abandoned to bind weed and I got a bumper crop snaking my way  , but I think you are right.  The weeds do tend to stay in the loose top layer and are easy to get out.

I've replanted fruit in a new area over the winter and deep mulches have gone on all over 

[Yorkshire Lass]

I'm in favor for mulching fruit bushes, last year I mulched one of my 3 fruit bushes and the blackcurrant bush that was mulched was much easier to manage and produced a lot more berries.  Perhaps it was a coincidence, but it is the way forward for me.   

[Growster...]

Mulching fruit beds just seems to be the right thing to do, doesn't it!

There's another post around which is about rasps getting tangled up with couch grass, and if a good plastering with some compost, or anything for that matter, does the job of keeping weeds down, then it's a great answer to a regular problem!

I wouldn't do it on rasps at this time of year, as I want to increase the shoot count, and they're well away, but I know it also works well on blackcurrants.

[Trikidiki]

I mulch my raspberries with about 4 inches of lawn clippings, they do mat a bit but the raspberries are strong enough to work their way through. It's all usually gone by mid summer, those pesky worms have stolen it all.