Christmas Tree Curbing : An Annual Green Tradition

There are Trees waiting on the curbside for the trash hauler or mulchers to pick them up. If it is not illegal to go curbing (i.e. taking things from the curb that are meant to be discarded/recycled) why not grab one or two like I did ?

With hand clippers I took off the branches the trees so they can be used on top of the planting beds in the garden. They will actually serve several purposes :

- first they will hold the leaves and other top mulches in place over the course of the winter

- they will help shade the soil on warmer days to prevent the freeze-thaw cycles that can disturb bulbs, seeds, and plants

- the garden beds will look better with greens on them

- over the course of the winter, most of the needles will fall off the branches and become mulch and slowly decay into the soil

- come spring the remaining branches will find themselves chopped up to become mulch and compost

- berries love the boost of soil acidity from evergreen branches as do broadleaf evergreens like Azaleas and Rhodedondrons

- even if there is snow on the ground, placing the branches in the garden now will still work, as the snow melts the branches will eventually make their way to soil level

( so get out there, and go curbing for trees! )