February is a melancholy time
It is always a melancholy time when the excitement of the holidays is over and the tree is taken down. Most of us hate to just throw out the tree that has provided so much enjoyment. There are several ways the old trees can be used by gardeners, mentions David Robson, University of Illinois Extension horticulture educator, Springfield Center.
The one thing you should not do with the old tree is to burn it in the fireplace. A dry tree will burn with intense heat and may buckle a steel fireplace, crack a flue in a brick chimney or could start a chimney fire. You can use the small twigs for kindling. If you want to use it for firewood, season it a year outdoors first.
An old tradition dating to the Middle Ages is to move the tree outside and set it up for the animals, decorated with various kinds of foods. Birds will appreciate suet cakes with seeds, strings of popcorn or cranberries and fresh pine cones with seeds still inside. Squirrels will appreciate strings of peanuts or apple slices.
During inclement weather, the tree can provide protection to animals who will roost in it or huddle under it as long as the storm persists. Birds such as cardinals and jays, which stay here all year, are much more likely to take up permanent residence in your yard if invited there for the winter. If you are already providing for the animals, there are other ways the old tree can be put to good use.
In Illinois, where there is always the danger of alternate freezing and thawing, perennials should be covered, not to keep them warm but to keep them cold. For this reason, you need to wait to mulch the garden until after the ground has frozen. The ideal mulch is light enough to permit air to penetrate but substantial enough to shade the soil and keep it from thawing every time the sun shines on it.
A good mulch to use for this purpose, easily available after Christmas, is the left over Christmas tree. Branches from your tree can be cut up and laid over your perennial bed. Two layers of bough, crisscrossed, should suffice. They admit air to the ground, but keep out the sun.
If you have extensive perennial beds or strawberries, you might run out of branches from your own tree, but you can be sure there will be a ready supply as neighbors, up and down the street, discard their trees. After removing the branches, save the trunks. They make good beanpoles or tomato stakes.
In the spring, remove the boughs in two stages, three or four days apart, just as the first new sprouts appear. This permits the tender new growth to become gradually acclimated to the still chilly spring air.
Finally, if you have all-weather containers, stick some branches in the pots, add a few interesting branches such as red or yellow-twig dogwood or burning bush, some berries and other decorations. Containers do not have to be emptied of soil, though the pots stand a better chance of not breaking if thereis no soil in them.
If you have other questions, call the Peoria County Extension Office. The number is 309-685-3140 or www.extension.uiuc.edu/peoria.
