Recycling Christmas decorations

Have you got boxes of old Christmas decorations gathering dust in the loft or spare room? Do you despair at the waste created by Christmas?

Here are some great ideas for recycling and using Xmas decorations all year round:

Tinsel, baubles and bling

Old tinsel and broken baubles can be put to good use in spring. Once you have sown your early crops and blooms, the birds will be eager to feast on all the seeds and seedlings that you have carefully planted.

Garland your planting with Christmas bling – it will sparkle in the spring sunshine and scare away the pesky birds.

Most shiny decorations however, are made from coated plastic so once the iridescent sheen has gone, be sure to dispose of it appropriately.

Christmas trees, wreaths and garlands

Arguably the most obvious use for defunct Christmas trees, wreaths and garlands made from natural materials is simply to compost. But that’s far from the only good use that your spruce or pine can be put to.

Pine needles dry quickly but take a long time to break down. So why not harvest them and use as an excellent moisture and mold free mulch for ground crops like strawberries to rest on.

The boughs of the tree are full of resin and highly flammable. While not suitable for indoor use, they are the perfect fire lighter for getting a bonfire going on a damp winter’s afternoon.

A further use for branches and twigs from your tree is as canes to support young plants – so why not strip them from the trunk, bundle them up and save them for the spring?

An unusual and imaginative use for a former Christmas tree is as a unique bird feeder. Take off lower branches and hang, bird feeders and coconut shells from the upper limbs to give song birds a helping hand during the remainder of the cold winter months.

Christmas wrapping paper

Always choose paper gift wrap as it is just so much more useful than its plastic and foil counterparts.

Wrapping paper can be composted but before you do this, why not use it crumpled up to buff your windows to a fabulous streak free shine?

If you have had a hard day in the garden in the pouring rain, take some old wrapping paper, shred it and spray it lightly with an odor eater, before stuffing it into your damp wellies. Not only will they dry quickly, they’ll smell fresh too!

And if you are going to compost old wrapping paper – why not enrich it first by using it as rabbit or guinea pig bedding.

Dobbies – unwrapping great garden ideas!