HOW TO: Plant Your Potted Christmas Tree!

Planting Your Christmas Tree in the Garden The idea of having a living Christmas tree in your home that you can enjoy even after the holidays is quite intriguing. Well, you can make that a reality! Below are some tips for having a live tree in your home as well as how to plant it in your garden afterwards! Caring In Your Home Inside environments can be quite drying for live trees, so you want to check daily to make sure that the soil is staying moist. Don't place it directly near a stove or fireplace and avoid extremely sunny windows. Although these trees do like the sun when they're outdoors, the warm and dry conditions in your home have the potential to trick your tree out of dormancy and shock it when you plant it back into the cold. Your tree should not stay in your home for more than 10-12 days before planting. Wrap the base of your tree, around the pot, with plastic to protect the floor you are placing it on. You could also use a saucer to catch any dirt or water that may come out of the pot. Hide the plastic around the base of your tree with a linen sheet or something of your choice to create a nice look. Planting Your Tree Before planting, it's a good idea to transfer your tree to somewhere like an unheated garage or shed for a few days, just to get acclimated to the cold without completely shocking it. Don't forget to water during this time! Dig a hole that is just the depth of the tree's container and twice the width of it. You want the hole to be just the depth of the container so that the stem sits in the ground at the same height it did in the container. If you're worried the ground might be frozen and you wont be able to dig a hole, prepare your hole earlier! You can use leaves to mulch both the hole and the dirt pile and cover them with a tarp to keep it from freezing from the cold. That way when you go to plant, your dirt pile will be ready to fill in the tree hole.  Gently loosen the bound roots and place the tree in the hole that you have dug for it. After you place it in the hole, fill it in with the loose dirt that you have dug out for it. Don't bother fertilizing your tree, for it is still dormant.  Water your newly planted tree thoroughly. Water again at least twice a month throughout the winter, and once a week once growing season has started. Give your newly planted tree a nice thick layer of mulch (you could also use leaves in lieu of mulch). And you're done! You just successfully used a live tree in a pot as your Christmas trees for the holidays, and now you will have it in your landscape for years to come! VISIT OUR WEBSITE!