Give festive trees a drink

The Christmas season seems to come a little earlier each year. If you’ve already bought a real tree, keep it outside and give it a good, long drink.

Conifers can absorb water through their foliage. To make your Christmas tree stay fresher for longer, use a hose or watering can to soak every branch. If it rains, that’s better still.

Then, when you bring the tree in for decorating, the fresh fragrance and healthy green colour will last a lot longer.

If you can stand your tree in a bucket or water-tight container, it may also be able to absorb a little water, even with a severed trunk.

Outside, birds will be hungry now and may already be feeding on holly berries.

If you have a tree with berries in your garden and need branches for decoration, gather those early. But try to leave plenty on the tree for the birds.

holly is lovely to bring inside to help create a festive feel, and the berries make a great show in a garden. But for some birds, those little scarlet fruits could be lifesavers.