Tips for recycling your Christmas tree in your yard or through your city

The last week of December is a reminder that cut Christmas trees can be used to help protect plants over the winter. Start by hauling that cut tree outdoors before it becomes dry and brittle.

Tip: If you can bend back a needle on your cut Christmas tree and the needle snaps in half rather than bending, it is dry and a hazard. Needles dropping from the tree is another warning that your tree needs to go outside.

Once outdoors, you can delimb the tree by cutting off the branches. Some cities will offer tree disposal or have a drop off spot for discarded trees as they can be chipped up and used for compost.

Tip: Make an effort to remove every last ornament and piece of tinsel as well as any wire hangers or lights. If it won’t decompose, it should not be on your tree when it goes to the recycling site.

If you do decide to recycle your tree on your own, you can start by laying the cut branches on top of perennials or other plants that may need winter protection. Some gardeners use them to protect exposed soil in the vegetable garden from digging cats. The trunk of the tree can be used at the bottom or as a base of a large compost pile or be sawed into shorter logs and used to edge a woodland pathway.

Tip: If you miss the pick up day for tree recycling, you can add a cut-up tree to your green waste bin.

One last use for an old tree is to leave it standing and add some “ornaments” to feed the birds.

Strings of cranberries or pine cones rolled in peanut butter can provide winter treats for hungry birds — but there is a warning when it comes to feeding any wildlife no matter what time of year it is: Bird seed, berries, peanut butter, popcorn and other bird treats also attract rats. If your neighborhood is already suffering from rat plagues, you should reconsider feeding the birds.

Tip: The best way to help local wildlife including birds, bees and butterflies is to have a variety of plants in your landscape, including some with berries (cotoneaster, salal, huckleberry), some with early blooms (hellebores, pulmonaria and crocus), and a mix of low-growing ground covers, shrubs with thorns that offer protection for small birds, and a bit of brush left in a corner of the garden where small reptiles can spend the winter.