I am not a fan of Christmas. At the risk of sounding like a killjoy, I admit that I hang around installing it and I rejoice when the (finally) time comes to rid the living room of the (damn) tree.
You might as well say that to the question “What to do with the Christmas tree after the holidays?“, I have multiple answers:
Replant your Christmas tree
If you bought a large tree, in a root ball or container, with its roots, you can replant it in the garden. To put the odds on your side, however, you must not have overheated the room and have thought of watering it.
Common Spruce (the one that smells good, but loses its needles) and Nordmann Fir (the one that keeps its needles, but doesn’t smell a thing) are both easy to grow. You will do an ecological gesture by giving it a second life, but also an economic gesture in favor of the loppers … in 20 years. Because, these firs are very cute, but know that in adulthood, these two conifers will easily reach over 30 meters high. Don’t get me wrong: if you repeat this gesture every year, in 10 years, you will have the embryo of a forest. Welcome to the Vosges!
Save your tree for next year
If you have opted for a small tree (with roots), you can definitely keep it in a large pot in the garden and bring it in next year. It will survive a few years very well as long as you spare it (as with large trees) the heat of the radiator, that you do not prolong its stay too much indoors and that you think of watering it (at home, but also in summer, outdoors).
Recycle your tree
If, like us, you buy a cut tree, the question of a second life does not arise … or in other words, since it is therefore a question of recycling it. Some stores offer to exchange it (provided it comes from home) for a voucher. This is handy if you just need shelving! In Paris and in many other municipalities, fir trees are collected to be crushed and then used as mulch.
With us, I take care of it. In my garden, the concept of green waste does not exist: everything is a resource! Armed with a good secateurs, I simply cut the branches into small pieces which I then spread, as needed, at the foot of the strawberries, small red fruits or acid-loving plants such as heather shrubs. This mulching is considered acidifying, but in the long term. Rest assured, it would only modify the PH of your soil if you overdo it (10 trees every year, for 10 years…). So do not hesitate to use it everywhere in the garden, it does not involve any risk, even for plants with a calcareous tendency.
Here, I only have the trunk left. At home, it is left to dry for two years and it goes through the stove. But you can also give free rein to your imagination, and transform it into a pencil holder, a shelter for insects or, cut in sections, to make charming Christmas decorations! A fancy way to come full circle, right?
