The Christmas tree countdown is now on as garden centres prepare for their stocks of trees to arrive from late November onwards. Hannah Stephenson finds out about the range of trees available and which one might suit your home

IF you’ve dusted off your tree stand, got your baubles out and are surrounded by sparkling tinsel, it must be almost time to put the Christmas tree up.

Garden centres generally start stocking trees towards the end of November, while The British Christmas Tree Growers Association (BCTGA) recommends getting them from December 1 onwards. It seems the middle of the festive season, the third Sunday after Advent (December 11) is a good compromise.

The fresher the tree, the more likely it is to last through the festive season without dropping its needles or looking a little tired.

While the most common type of tree is still the Nordmann fir – which accounts for 80% of trees sold – there are some that might better suit your available space and budget.

“Bear in mind the size of the room and the weight of the tree,” says David Mitchell, plant buyer for Wyevale Garden Centres. “A lot of Christmas trees are sold by height, so make sure you’ve got the roof space for it and don’t end up having to cut a section off the top.

“Some trees have a lighter structure. We sell a Swedish-style Nordmann which is lighter. We select the trees in the field and prune them to have a lighter feel, which suits a lot of customers. They are good if you want to experiment with larger decorations or you want to see light coming through the tree. They have more of a layered structure, and they are cheaper than the denser trees.

The four main types of tree on offer this year are Nordman fir, Fraser fir, Noble fir and Norway spruce, each of which has its own characteristics.

Nordmann fir (Abies nordmanniana)
The most popular tree, it won’t drop its needles for the duration of the festive season and people love it because of its dense branches, uniform shape and good variety of sizes. Expect to pay from about £20 upwards, depending on size.

Fraser fir (Abies fraseri)
This is ideal for those with limited space, who want a real Christmas tree. It’s a slim tree, so you’re less likely to brush past it and knock off decorations in a smaller room, but it also has a great shape and fresh citrus scent, and its dark olive-green needles don’t drop. It’s likely to be more expensive than the Nordmann, and there won’t be as many available as it’s a more difficult tree to grow commercially, says Mitchell.

Noble fir (Abies procera)
Consumers buy this tree primarily for its blue-hued needle colour and rich fragrance. It’s non-drop, but is unlikely to be as uniformly shaped as the Nordmann. This tree is ideal for individuals who don’t conform to conventional shapes and sizes of tree.

Norway spruce (Picea abies)
This is the traditionalist’s tree. It may shed its needles, but what it loses in longevity it gains in scent. It’s a good tree if you’re putting it up last minute, or at least closer to Christmas, because it won’t last as long as the more expensive non-drop trees. “A lot of people look for nostalgia at Christmas time and this is part of the mix,” says Mitchell. “It smells more Christmassy than the Nordmann, but you do get the dropping needles, although how quickly they drop really depends on how you look after the tree.”

Alternatives
There are twiggy alternatives – if you haven’t space, decorate containerised olive or pyramid-trained bay trees or standard holly bushes and put them outside your front door or on a balcony, anywhere outside where you get a good view of them.

Ideally, buy from a local grower. Visit the British Christmas Tree Growers Association website (www.bctga.co.uk) to check out members locally. Alternatively, good garden centres should have plenty of trees from which to choose. Wyevale (www.wyevalegardencentres.co.uk) sources 95% of it’s trees from the UK and Ireland.

TOP TREE TIPS

David Mitchell offers the following tips to keep your tree going through the festive season:

1. Buy it fresh - he recommends getting it early before the trees have been left standing in the garden centre a week or longer. When you bring it home, cut a couple of centimetres off the trunk and dunk it in a bucket of water, leaving it outside until you need it.

2. Buy from a retailer who will remove it from its netting. You want to see the shape of it before you buy. Sometimes a micro-climate builds up within trees which have been netted for any length of time, which can make trees drop their needles earlier.

3. Put the tree into a stand which can hold water. Water it regularly throughout the festive season.

4. Try to keep the tree in the cool and definitely away from direct heat. Don’t place it near radiators or fires.

5. If you buy a containerised tree, keep it indoors for a minimum amount of time as it can suffer from shock coming into a centrally heated house. Let it acclimatise gradually by putting it in a cool room or on a porch. Containerised trees have roots and are living, so when replanting them in the garden, ensure you have enough space as many of the conifers grow extremely tall.

GOOD ENOUGH TO EAT: MUNG BEANS (VIGNA RADIATA)

Darlington and Stockton Times:

Grown as beansprouts, mung beans can be added to winter salads, soups and stir-fries.

They are so easy and quick to grow. All you need is a jam jar and the seeds, which should be soaked for an hour in tepid water then rinsed.

Place them in a screw-top jar and cover it with a piece of cotton or muslin secured with an elastic band.

Place the jar in a warm place such as an airing cupboard or on a windowsill which is kept at a comfortable room temperature, even in winter.

The sprouting seeds should be rinsed two or three times a day at regular intervals by half filling the jar with water, swilling it around to dislodge the seedlings and then tipping it out into a fine sieve.

BEST OF THE BUNCH: VIBURNUM DAVIDII

THE beautiful, metallic-looking blue bead-like fruits make this variety of evergreen viburnum worth growing.

They follow flattened heads of white spring flowers, while at other times of year, the dramatic dark green leaves provide a brilliant foil for other plants.

Viburnums are reliable and easy to grow, but if you want the blue berries from this type, you’ll need to plant both sexes, as it’s only the female forms which produce the berries.

This medium-sized shrub grows to 1.5m (5ft)

WHAT TO DO THIS WEEK

  • Cover perennial borders with a mulch of compost or other organic material to stop frost penetrating the soil.
  • Take hardwood cuttings of dogwood, roses and spiraea.
  • Finish planting spring-flowering bulbs.
  • Cut down late-flowering perennials such as phlox to ground level.
  • Perk up your patio pots with ornamental cabbages, whose pink, red or cream rosettes will provide a burst of colour.
  • Lift and store some root crops, keeping them close to the kitchen, so you don’t have to venture outside to harvest them in really cold or wet weather.
  • Empty spent crops on to the compost heap.
  • Bring mint, parsley and other potted herbs under cover.
  • Sow sweet peas in deep pots.
  • Clean feeders and bird baths to prevent disease spreading among garden birds.