Repurpose Christmas Trees

Christmas trees are excellent winter bird and small animal sanctuaries. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Repurpose Christmas Trees

When I used to write a weekly column carried in several Missouri newspapers, one of the readers took my repurposing Christmas tree advice but complained her artificial tree wasn’t decomposing. Let me make it clear here, when I am talking about repurposing Christmas trees, this is about those live trees that have been cut and those in pots that aren’t making it.

Although it’s a nice idea to think you can buy a potted live Christmas tree, many don’t make it through the move inside and then back outside. You can also repurpose those trees once you move them outside.

How to Repurpose Christmas Trees

Once all ornaments and lights have been removed, there are many things you can do with the Christmas tree in your garden:

1. Place tree in a garden corner for a sanctuary for birds. Birds will use the branches for cover during windy, snowy days.

2. Cut up the tree and use the branches to protect rose bushes.

3. You can also use the cut up branches as mulch at the back of flower beds.

4. Those cut up tree branches can also be formed into a door wreath.

5. If you like the smell of the evergreens, pull off a handful and place in a bowl of water; they will last another couple of weeks if you refresh the water.

6. If you have a compost pile, add the tree to the pile. It will biodegrade by spring.

7. The branches can also be used as natural stakes. I collect cedar boughs to cover cattle panel arbors and to make teepee plant supports.

8. If you have a pond, place the tree at the edge for a safe spot for birds to land to drink.

9. If your pond is deep enough, Christmas trees make nice cover for baby fish later in spring.

10. If you have cows and goats, give them small amounts of the untreated, unadorned tree branches to eat. They have natural Vitamin C and they also work as a natural de-wormer.

Recycling a Christmas Tree

Many communities offer a drop off spot where you can take a Christmas tree. In our mid-Missouri community, our recycling center accepts trees that will get ground up in a wood chipper into mulch.

Dried branches and hunks of trunk will make fabulous firewood for an outdoor fire pit or bonfire, but be sure to keep the fire outside. When Christmas trees burn, they release creosote, a highly flammable, toxic substance consisting mainly of tar -- into the fire smoke. Creosote may build up on the inside of your chimney, increasing your risk of a chimney fire.

If you are a beekeeper, Christmas trees can also be used as handy windbreaks in front of bee hives.

Christmas trees can also be used as bee hive windbreaks. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Check with your local home and garden centers. Some will give their extra Christmas trees away after the holidays.

Charlotte

Recycle Christmas Greenery

Recycle Christmas trees as wildlife cover, a fish nursery or take to a recycling center for mulch.

Recycle Christmas Greenery

Bless my brother, he didn't even ask why almost as soon as I got back into town, I was texting him from the recycling center. I was curious how many people would be recycling Christmas greenery. Did you know that 75% of what is hauled off to landfills could be recycled? A good percentage of recyclables are easily compostable materials such as Christmas trees, leaves and kitchen scraps.

My brother has started composting. He told me he was amazed at how quickly he has less in his garbage. He started by saving kitchen scraps in a plastic bag stored in the top freezer drawer for easy access. When the bag is full, he takes it outside to a handy composter sitting next to his garage. I suggested he could also bury it in holes in his garden but he lives in northern Minnesota; his garden is frozen seven months out of the year. On the other hand, he's proud to report they have one of the lowest crime rates in the country so there's something to be said about living in tundra conditions.

Besides kitchen scraps, live Christmas trees and other greenery can also easily be recycled, even if it is cold. After removing all decorations, including tinsel:

• Pull off or cut off tree branches and boughs to cover roses and other tender plants, if you haven't already. The best time to mulch is after the first hard frost. Mulch is basically a blanket to maintain soil temperature around plants. With our ever-fluctuating temperatures, it's even more important now to make sure plants have consistent soil temperature so they can maintain their winter dormancy.  Trees that are particularly affected by fluctuating temperatures, and should also be mulched, include cherries and Japanese maples.
• If you have a pond, tie a rock to the denuded tree and sink it in your pond. It will provide a nursery area and good cover for baby fish and tadpoles.
• Place the tree in a corner where birds can use it for protection. One year, we "planted" one of our live cedar trees back in the yard with pinecones with peanut butter and strings of popcorn. It was highly entertaining to watch all of the wildlife that made use of that tree for the rest of winter, especially song birds and wild turkeys. Once wild turkeys discovered the popcorn strings, they spent several days working them out of the tree. I can still remember them walking off, dragging popcorn strings behind them.

If you are more interested in wood chips, most recycling centers allow local residents to haul off wood chips for free. Wood chips make great cover for walking paths and, once dry, are great for mulching flower beds and trees. 

Smaller trees like cut cedars work well as outside brooms to clear off paths.

Charlotte