What to do with your tree after Christmas

As the holiday season winds down, many of us will be taking our Christmas trees to the curb. But instead of sending them off to the landfill, there’s a few ways you can extend their usefulness throughout the year.

Gardening expert Carson Arthur explains that brining a real Christmas tree into your home is different from simply cutting a tree down in the wild.

“These are grown on farms, so trees, boughs, planters, garlands, they’re all properly grown crops that farmers in Canada actually supply. So that’s a good thing. But what we do with them afterwards is a bit of the problem,” he says.

As per Earth.org, if disposed off with a wood chipper or a bonfire, a tree has an average carbon footprint of 3.5 kilograms of carbon dioxide (CO2). If it ends up in a landfill, that number goes up four times to 16kgs.

Arthur says that’s not only bad for the environment, but a huge waste as well.

“When we put it at the end of the road or we put it into the garbage, that’s awful because these [trees] are such gardening gold,” he says.

Arthur says each part of the tree can be repurposed to feed for your garden and houseplants all year round.

“When you’re taking your Christmas tree apart, start at the bottom and work your way up,” he suggests.

Leaves and small segments

Arthur says to start by taking off all the branches and then snipping off the smaller, softer segments off the main stems.

“If you have hydrangeas in your garden or azaleas, you want to take all of these little pieces and put them around the bottom of the plant,” he says.

“As they naturally decompose, not only do they add acid to the soil, which is what those plants are looking for, they add fiber as well. So they feed the plant and they help the plant stay more hydrated during the hot summer months.”

Twigs and stems

Thicker twigs and stems take longer to decompose, so Arthur says it’s best to compost them in a home compost bin to break down. The compost can then be used as fertilizer in your garden or houseplant pots.

Decorative stalks with berries should also go into the composter.

“If you put these in your garden, you could actually have more plants growing — not a good thing. If your composter gets nice and warm, 120 degrees or hotter, these [berries] won’t germinate. They’ll just turn into food for your plants,” he says.

“Another thing to remember is needles, believe it or not, actually take longer than the wood to decompose. So if you’ve got lots of needles that have fallen off your tree … you put the needles in [the composter], give those a little extra time to break down before you start putting it in the garden.”

Larger stems and trunks

Larger stems and trunks may not be suitable to make compost, but they can still be useful.

Arthur says soft wood Christmas trees burn very quickly and leave a lot of ash, which is good for your garden.

The trunks can also be used to make simple bird feeders.

Arthur says you can create shallow pockets or wedges in the trunk by using a large drill bit on a pilot drill and add a hook on top to hang it. You can then fill the holes with suet available in squeeze tubes.

“I love having woodpeckers and blue jays in my garden,” he says.

Wreaths and garlands

Arthur says to be careful with decor like wreaths and garlands.

“You have to really pay attention because garlands, wreaths, they all have wire in there,” he says.

“So you want to remove all of the metal pieces — anything that’s not going to decompose or break down in the garden, you want to take that all apart and that those go into the garbage. But save all that greenery.”

Arthur says that while artificial Christmas trees can be reused for several years, real Christmas trees are still a more sustainable way to celebrate the season.

“When we go with the artificial, unfortunately many of those plastic trees can stay in the landfill a hundred thousand years plus,” he explains.

“When we’re working with natural products, it is biodegradable — feed your plants, feed your garden that way. Something that brought your family joy over the holidays keeps on giving.“