Any advice to help me with a tricky patch under my damson tree?

[Mablefly]

Hi clever gardeners!

I have a couple of very old fruit trees which I love, one damson and one apple. Our Victorian house was built on an orchard and I suspect they have been there since the house was built.

Neither of us are gardeners and, with the exception of an occasional pruning, the trees have been left to get on with it. We have plenty of fruit from them every year.

Unfortunately we also have a LOT of suckers which I have trimmed at ground level just to tidy them up. Looking online I think I may need to do some proper digging and remove them from under the surface now. Does this sound like a good plan?

We currently have some black liner and gravel down which doesn't really keep the weeds at bay. I would love to put some shade loving plants in eventually as those two bits of the garden are just so unsightly at the moment.

Does anyone have any advice of where to start our project?

Thanks so much!!

I'm not clever unfortunately, I also have a damson tree and you are right about the suckering. All of the Prunus family are guilty of this.

What you have been doing, ie cutting them off at ground level, is probably the best course of action. Digging down to the roots, which is where they are coming from, is really a waste of time as you can't stop this happening. They will keep sprouting up indefinitely.

For planting underneath, there are a number of plants which have evolved in woodland glades like foxgloves, epimediums, Erythronium 'Pagoda' (Dog's Tooth Violet), aquilegia, astrantia, brunnera and bulbs like snowdrops, anemones, and cyclamen. I have a climbing rose Madame Alfred Carriere growing up into my damson tree, she is very obliging about flowering even in shade.

Thanks @TheNoodlesIncident that is really helpful and makes me feel slightly less guilty that it isn't as tidy as I'd like. I will tackle it again this weekend with my secateurs and take a look at those plants too!