sort your Christmas tree

✢ IF you normaLLy ChooSe a reaL tree, then pencil in the weekend to collect (saturday 8 December/sunday 9 December gives you just over two weeks to get everything ready).

✢ have an Idea oF what you want before you go shopping, checking how high and wide a tree will fit in the space. take a tape measure with you and remember you can trim some of the trunk and lower branches off a tall, wide tree. often, garden centres will do this for you and pop in a net.

✢ CheCk the dIameter oF your tree Stand (or even take it with you), as if the trunk is too wide, you’ll have to shape the bottom, which can take ages. ✢ teSt the needLe retentIon beFore you buy. “take the tree by the trunk and tap it on the ground,” says louise Golden, Dobbies Garden Centre senior plant expert. “Evergreens lose needles all year round, but if too many fall off you might want to reconsider.”

✢ know your tree typeS nordmann is the classic shape with dark, glossy needles that don’t drop as long as it’s watered, and it’s not spiky. norway spruce has lighter needles, and tends to drop needles more heavily, so keep it well watered.

Fraser fir is a dense tree with short, broad, flat needles that last. >>