Tradition states that by twelfth night, the Christmas decorations must be down. But what do you do with your Christmas tree? In London local councils offer a recycling service with requirements varying from borough to borough. All the information can be found on London Recycles.
However, recycling your tree is not the only option.
If you have space in your garden, a little bit of time and a saw and a strong pair of secateurs or loppers, you can make use of your tree in several ways.
Provided the tree has not lost too many needles while living inside, you can repurpose the branches to make a green foil for pots over the winter months, something I’ve seen done in parts of Germany.
Cut the branches into smaller sections 20-30cm long, remove the lower branches and stick them into the compost. I think it’s prettier than looking at bare soil, and they are easily removed and composted as they start to fade in the spring.
If you’ve got newly planted bulbs in pots, they could also act as a deterrent for squirrels, although I have not tested this. It will work best with the fatter needled Nordman trees.
The branches can also be chopped small (needles included) and used as a mulch, either around plants, or as a top up to an existing woodchip path.
It can be quite cathartic to cut your Christmas tree into tiny pieces, especially if you had a fraught festive season.
The needles will eventually go brown, so adding them to a border may not be that beautiful in the long run but the smaller you can cut the pieces the faster they will break down.
When it comes to the trunk of your Christmas tree, you’ll want to handle it with gloves to prevent the sticky sap covering your hands. Use a saw to cut into manageable chunks.
These could be used to edge paths or at the bottom of a raised bed if you are planning to build one – a technique borrowed from the Germans who call it Hügelkultur.
It is a cost-effective way of building or filling raised beds using mounds of rotting wood rather than entirely filling with expensive new soil or compost.
Ideally, the trunk of your tree will have started rotting, so this could be a process that you begin this year and add to as you collect more woody material.
There is no limit to the size of a Hügelkultur bed, the larger they are the better they work, so you may find yourself collecting your neighbours’ Christmas trees over time too.
The wood forms the bottom third of the raised bed and can be partially buried, and then soil is added on top. As the wood breaks down it releases nutrients and acts as a sponge, holding water for the plants growing above.
