Planting your Christmas tree in the garden either to reuse it the following Christmas or to let it grow is planned as soon as you buy it, because keeping it alive during the holidays requires some care.
1. Choosing the right tree
- The Christmas tree that will be replanted in the garden is necessarily a potted tree, which has its roots. There is no chance that a cut tree will grow back in the garden.
- it must be fresh: no sagging branches, no needles that are already falling off en masse, no tree that has been inside for a week or more (in a supermarket, for example).
- if you want to let it grow in your garden, buy a small tree, which gives better results in the long run.
- And finally, make an informed choice of the species best suited to you.
Different choices of Christmas tree :
- Nordmann or Caucasian Fir Abies nordmanniana, beautiful conical shape, dark green, non-scented, and does not lose too many needles. Its growth is slow and it is more expensive. It makes an excellent garden tree. Acid to slightly alkaline soil, which stays cool. Fairly easy to grow.
- Nobilis or noble fir Abies Nobilis (syn Abies procera), very beautiful, it has the qualities of Nordmann, but with the added scent. It is remarkable, but a little more demanding for its culture in the garden. Acidic soil and always fresh to humid.
- The Grandis or Vancouver fir, Abies Grandis, non pungent and with a smell of lemongrass, it is beautiful and non pungent. It is getting too big to leave it in a garden for long. Instead, it is replanted to be used again at Christmas. Acidic, humid and draining soil.
- Omorika or Serbian spruce, Picea omorika, dark green with a silvery underside, is a bit fragile, its branches are brittle, but it is tolerant of the soil and its transplanting in the garden is quite easy.
- the Epicea, Picea abies, less expensive and fragrant, prickly; it loses its needles easily with the heat. Not very ornamental from a landscape point of view, if it is replanted, it is rather with the aim of taking it back the following Christmas. Likes sandy soils with an acidic tendency. Easy to grow and fast growing.
- The Pungens, Picea pungens or Colorado fir is the blue Christmas tree. Its needles are prickly and do not drop too much. It resists well indoors and is easily replanted in the garden. It likes full sun, moist soil and is somewhat more resistant to light drought.
2. Keeping your tree alive during the holidays
To keep it alive, you should:
- do not buy it too early before Christmas, so that it stays in the house as little as possible: 1 or 2 weeks maximum.
- install it far from the heating, and not to overheat the house, install it where it benefits from more freshness (there is often a ventilation near the windows).
- put a saucer under the pot and water it every 2 days, or more: the soil of the pot must always remain wet, it is very important.
- do not put an electric garland, which allows to mist the needles once a day, so that they do not dry out too much.
3. Adaptation to the outdoor climate
- As soon as possible, the Christmas tree is put out in a cool place. But if it goes from 20°C to 2°C too quickly, it can have a thermal shock, even more so if it freezes outside; 1 or 2 days in an unheated room at an intermediate temperature is desirable (garage).
- once outside, it can wait in its pot for a week or two, as long as you keep watering it.
4 . Planting the Christmas tree
Choose its location according to its needs, or according to whether you want to plant it permanently or take it over for next Christmas.
Pungens and spruce require a sunny exposure.
Abies, Nordmann, Omorika, Grandis and Nobilis prefer shade when they are young.
Choose a location where the soil remains fairly moist most of the year to limit watering chores.
Planting your tree to let it grow
In a large pit, twice as deep as the pot, plant a well-moistened root ball, with a few unrolled roots (cut a little if necessary to untie the root bun). In this pit you should bring potting soil, or even heather soil for those who require acidic soil, which is mixed with the local soil; the rootball is buried in it, creating a slight depression that collects the water from the watering above and around the rootball. Water immediately to settle, and if it doesn't rain enough in the following months and then regularly as soon as it is dry, during the summer.
Mulch with pine bark: it acidifies the soil and keeps it cool.
This tree can be fertilized, preferably with compost or manure placed at the bottom of the planting pit or on the surface under the mulch.
Planting your tree to reuse it the following Christmas
The goal here is not to make it grow, but to keep it alive until the next Christmas. This process can be repeated up to 3 times, if you are rigorous in watering.
The tree can be kept in its pot, but the pot will be buried in the ground with a small basin above it to water it effectively. Its roots being trapped in the pot, watering should be very regular. The soil must not dry out. It should be placed in the coolest place in the garden and mulched.
It will be easy to prune and reuse.
It can also be transplanted without pot as before. We will avoid any fertilizer so that it does not force too much. For the next Christmas, take it out of the ground and repot it by cutting the roots too long to put it back in a pot.
If it is too rooted or grows too much, it can be turned into a cut stem tree, which means that the recycling of your Christmas tree is over.
In any case, if you bought a potted tree, you can always try to keep it alive in the garden to reuse it the next Christmas. But don't forget to water it like a green plant during the time it spends in the house. A tree that loses almost all its needles is almost dead.
