…for
discerning weeders
A Newsletter of the Okaloosa County Master Gardeners Association –– January 2011
H a p p y
N e w
Oh, Christmas Tree...
Y e a r ! ! ! ! Lynn Fabian
You shopped for it, you payed for it, you hauled it home and you decorated it. How’s that tree doing now?
Using a chipper/shredder will reduce the bulk of the tree to chips. It will still take about a year for the chips to reduce to compost.
Getting a little dry? Our homes are hot and dry this time of year. Don’t let the tree dry to the point it becomes a fire hazard.
Some municipalities offer pickup for Christmas trees to be mulched and composted over the year. The compost is then available to the public at a nominal charge during the year. One town we lived in ran this program and the piles of tree mulch could be seen steaming in a field adjacent to the Botanical Gardens.
Live Christmas trees (or those that were live before you cut them!) give the house that fragrant smell of Christmas time. They also give you pine needles in the carpet and a large compostable item when the season is over. If you bought a live tree in a pot, seriously consider the season of the tree at an end and remove the decorations and take the tree outside. It should be planted in the next month or so to grow into the tree it was meant to be. Getting rid of the once live cut tree may be accomplished by hauling it to the street and letting the waste pickup take care of it. If you have the room and the time, you might want to compost the tree.
© Okaloosa County Master Gardeners!
During a near blizzard a number of years ago, Ed vowed he would never hunt for a tree under those conditions again. We invested in an artificial tree we used for 20 years or more. New house and less room encouraged us to change trees...we still use an artificial tree but we tend to use things for a long time. No composting, no pickup, no shopping. There is peace on earth in our family at this time of year. Visit solutionsforyourlife.com to find local “cut your own” tree farms in our area next year.
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