Not just for Christmas...
What to do with your real tree when the festivities are over and thee decorationsdeco have to come down
OH Christmas tree, how lovely are thy branches? Let’s keep them that way!
Here, Guy Barter, Chief Horticulturist at the Royal Horticultural Society, offers his top tips about what to do with our Christmas trees after the festive season.
Potted perfection
Move potted living trees outdoors as soon as possible.
Repot your tree in February if you intend to keep it for next Christmas.
Keep it watered all year, adding high nitrogen fertiliser every month from April until September.
Aphids or greenfly can leave bare branches, so keep an eye out for these.
Prune the tree every spring, cutting into green but not brown wood to maintain the tree’s conical shape. Don’t cut the top leading shoot if possible. If necessary, be ready to thin any resulting sideshoots to just one.
Bring the potted tree indoors in winter as late as possible and remove from heated rooms before many needles are shed.
Size matters
Christmas trees are forest trees and become very large in time (I have a 20ft spruce on my allotment).
If you plant your tree in the garden, consider trimming it every March, shortening the green wood to keep it bushy. It won’t regrow if you cut into the old brown timber.
Recycle and reuse
Christmas trees that are sawn at the base and will never re-grow must be taken outdoors once needle shedding sets in.
Consider using a local service, often provided by garden centres or the council to chip the tree. The chipped wood is usually used for mulch in parks or sent to industrial composting to provide organic matter to spread on farmland.
A garden shredder will deal with Christmas trees if you own a machine. You might have to chop or saw up the trunk if you have a large tree.
Chopped and sawn trees can also go in the green waste bin if you subscribe to this service, or can be taken to the municipal recycling centre.
Wonderfully wild
Alternatively, cut your tree into pieces with saw and secateurs and pile these in an out of the way part of your garden where they rot quite quickly, supporting insects, birds and other wildlife.
■ For more about all things green and growing, see rhs.org.uk