Grow your own Christmas Tree - Winter Solstice 2014

Hello Friends,
Hope you're all enjoying this very mild winter solstice weekend. I'm talking Christmas trees today, which seemed an appropriate activity to be getting on with. We brought our winter tree friend indoors last weekend to decorate.

I'd love to tell you that I grew this from seed, but that would be a big, not very festive fib. We sent our old artificial tree to landfill several years ago, something I don't like to do if things can possibly be recycled. We then compounded this distinctly un-green act by buying ourselves a new one - a very stylish bare branch one, constructed from bound wired lights contorted into a tree-shape. It looked fabulous, so classy, but despite bowing down before its twinkly loveliness, there was for me, an undercurrent of unease about the thousands of 'Fake Tree Miles' (made in China) & the sheer amount of non-recyclable components involved. Decided we would mitigate this by using the tree for as many years as it lasted..........& therein lay the problem! We got about 3 years out of it before the wired branches started coming apart, half of it refused to light up & the insulation degraded leaving bare electrical wires all over the place. Like most electrical gadgets owned by myself, it was eventually pronounced an 'Expletive death trap' by the Big Hairy One in the relationship........before being binned off to landfill.  
We decided we could solve the ethical issues by buying a real tree in a pot & growing it on. We dithered about this for so long that by the time we went back to choose, there were exactly 3 trees left - one topless, one seriously wonky & one on the verge of expiry. A no-brainer - we purchased Wonky (pictured above) & it has just been adorned for its 4th Christmas. Despite received wisdom that potted Christmas trees are reluctant to survive for more than a couple of years. Wonky is kept well-watered, particularly in summer, repotted every March with a scoop of yummy bonemeal & puts on lush new pine-scented growth every Spring......

.....and this year, it even produced a couple of fir cones! (I think it's a Nordman Fir).

I so enjoy tending our own tree through the seasons, ready to bring inside for Yule, that I've today sown a packet of free seeds to see if I can raise some tinies. 

    

I just used ordinary potting compost & a couple of recycled festive coffee shop cups. These then need to be covered with a clear plastic bag or you can make a little cloche by cutting up a plastic bottle, & placing outside somewhere sheltered, such as up against the house wall until the teensy trees have germinated.

In the spirit of a certain well-known sticky-backed plastic loving programme, here is one I prepared earlier.

This one's a Colorado Spruce, & grew from a sowing of an identical packet of seed about 3 years ago. Despite a good germination rate, I lost all but one tiny tree from this batch to a combination of weird, possibly Evil-Weevil induced wilting & a very persistent blackbird who was determined that the ultimate gourmet snack lay concealed beneath. Such is life as a gardener. You win some, you lose some.....but hey, it was free seed, & I do like to experiment with growing things.

So......if you are getting sick of all the plastic stuff imported from China at this time of year, which will find its inevitable way to landfill where it will never bio-degrade, & you have room somewhere in your garden for a modest potted tree, give it a go......buy one.....you could give a shunned imperfect tree like Wonky a deserving home, or go hardcore & sow some seeds. 

Hope you are all having a lovely winter weekend.

Bright Solstice Blessings from we three at 'Hagstones',

C x