The Winchendon Courier
Serving the community since 1878 ~ A By Light Unseen Media publication
Week of January 2 to January 9, 2020

Gardening

Give Your Christmas Tree a Second Life in the Landscape

treats for the birds
photo credit: Melinda Myers, LLC


Once your holiday celebrations have passed and the decorations go back into storage, it is time to deal with your real Christmas tree. Don’t drag it to the curb to be hauled away by the trash collectors. Give it a second, even third life, in your landscape. No live Christmas tree? Don’t worry! I’m sure your friends and neighbors will share theirs.

Start recycling all those needles that landed on the floor. Sweep them up and use them as mulch in the garden. Place them directly on the soil or on top of the snow. As the snow melts, the needles will be right where they belong. And don’t worry, they will not make the soil too acidic. In fact, as they breakdown they will add organic matter to the soil.

Move your cut Christmas tree outdoors after the holidays. Use it as a windbreak or for added shade to prevent drying of tender evergreens. Strategically place your discarded tree on the windward side of rhododendron, boxwood, and needled or broadleaf evergreens subject to winter burn. Place it on the south side of these plants to shade them from the drying winter sun.

Remove and use the branches as winter mulch over bulbs and perennials. Layer the boughs over the plants and frozen soil to keep the soil consistently cold. This reduces the risk of early sprouting and winter damage that can occur during winter thaws.

Or set the tree in the landscape for a bit of added greenery. Secure it in a snow pile or use stakes and guy wires if the soil is not frozen. Then add a bit of food for your feathered visitors. Decorate the tree with fruits, berries, and seeds the birds can enjoy. Hang strands of cranberries and slices of oranges on colorful yarn and homemade bird ornaments to complete the edible display. The birds will enjoy the added food and shelter and you will enjoy watching these visitors to your landscape.

Then save the tree for trellising beans and peas in the garden. The vines will grow up and over, masking the bare tree branches. Growing vertically saves space and makes harvesting easier.

As spring arrives, consider chipping and shredding your tree into mulch for trees and shrubs or pathways in the landscape. No chipper? You and your neighbors may want to rent a chipper to shred these and other prunings for use as mulch in your landscapes.

And, if this is not possible, check for recycling resources in your community. Many municipalities have special pickups for Christmas trees. These are chipped, shredded and made available for citizens to use in their landscapes.

Always check on any alerts of live Christmas trees and greens shipped in from other regions of the country. These may contain pests that can infest your landscape or harm native plantings and local Christmas tree farms in your area. The Department of Natural Resources or your local Extension Office should have information on any such threats. They can provide information on proper disposal.

And once you discover the value of this free resource, you may find yourself collecting a few more from neighbors who buy locally grown trees. Although, if your family is like mine, they may ask that you wait until dark to drag your treasures back home.

Melinda Myers has written numerous books, including Small Space Gardening. She hosts The Great Courses "How to Grow Anything" DVD series and the nationally-syndicated Melinda’s Garden Moment TV & radio program. Myers is a columnist and contributing editor for Birds & Blooms magazine and her web site is www.MelindaMyers.com.

Antiques

Antique, Collectibles and Auction News from 2019

antique gun


As we enter 2020, I thought that I’d share antique news stories from 2019 for the last time.

Locally, a man attempted to bring a gun on a flight at Logan Airport on Christmas Day according to CBS Boston. Fortunately for all involved, the man explained that it was an antique gun inherited from his grandfather. When he explained his situation to the TSA screeners, they allowed him to return it to his car.

Bloomberg reported that a German World War II “Enigma” machine was auctioned last month. “The three-cipher rotor design was considered unbreakable until the early 1940s. It could scramble letters into any one of 17,576 combinations, except the use of the original letter.” The machine which wrote code that was thought to be unbreakable brought $106,000. The Enigma, known as the “Hitler mill” because of its hand crank, was purchased by an Irish collector. Hitler’s military ordered the machines to be destroyed to keep them out of the hands of Allied forces. Winston Churchill also ordered captured machines to be destroyed. Very few survived, making them quite rare today.

In a previous column I wrote about the rare painting by Italian artist Cimabue that was found on an elderly French woman’s wall. USA Today reports that “Christ Mocked” sold for $26.6 million. The winning bidders may never see it though. The French newspaper Le Monde reported that Chilean collectors in the United States who “specialize in Italian masterworks” outbid the Metropolitan Museum of New York for the painting. The French cultural ministry has since blocked the sale of the painting which they now consider a national treasure. The French government is attempting to raise funds to pay the $26.6 million that the painting sold for. The auctioneer is concerned that the country may not be able to raise the funds. Sadly, the woman who owned the painting passed away shortly after the auction. Her heirs will have to pay $10 in inheritance tax when the sale is consummated.

A relatively new piece of electronics is expected to bring over $1 million when it goes on the auction block, according to comicbook.com, polygon.com, and other collectibles and gaming websites. The rare Nintendo Playstation was produced from a collaboration between Sony and Nintendo. According to reports “a couple hundred prototypes were produced of the Super NES CD-ROM System, colloquially known as the SNES-CD or Nintendo Play Station.” The auction house spokesperson stated that this is the first time one of these prototypes has come to auction. The consignor was reportedly offered $1.2 million by a Norwegian buyer but turned it down.

A sealed rare copy of “Mega Man” sold for $75,000 in November making it “the most valuable sealed game sold at auction.” You may want to rethink putting some of your old video games in your next garage sale.

There is still time to consign for our major auction on January 30th that will be held in Worcester. I’ll be teaching my “Evaluating your antiques” class on March 3rd at the Bay Path Adult Education Evening School. Other events are being scheduled. Please see www.centralmassauctions.com for details on these and other events.

Contact us at: Wayne Tuiskula Auctioneer/Appraiser Central Mass Auctions for Antique Auctions, Estate Sales and Appraisal Services www.centralmassauctions.com (508-612- 6111) info@centralmassauctions.com