Gardening

There’s nothing quite like putting up the Christmas tree…unless you have a couple of hundred of them, of course!  We have taken delivery of our shipment from Hole Park in Cranbrook (along with some of our home-grown trees) and are currently putting 200 of them out along the Christmas Trail and in the Grotto, as well as a further 50 in the castle, the restaurant and the offices.  Our trees are all cut specimens and come without root balls but, as they have to last until after Christmas itself, we make sure there’s a reservoir of water for them all.  We are lucky in the main that most of our trees will be displayed outdoors, so they look fantastic for a long period of time.   Leave it outside If you’re going for a cut tree this year then the best tip I can give you is to leave it outside for as long as you possibly can. If you are buying a tree with a root ball then the same rule applies: I know of people who leave them outside in their pot until Christmas Eve and only bring them in hours before Santa is due to arrive!  If you want to buy a pot-grown tree then make sure you choose one with a really healthy root ball that’s been wrapped in burlap. It’s even more important to keep your tree well-watered while it’s indoors, so it doesn’t dry out.  Keep it cool Find the tree somewhere cool indoors – beside your patio door is a better spot than beside the fire! Make sure you get the tree outside as soon after Christmas as possible. The shorter its stay indoors, the shorter its odds are of surviving outdoors. You might want to gently acclimatise your tree if it’s coming straight out of your […]