Allotments 4 All

So what kind do you have? :D

We have always had an artificial one - for various reasons.  ::)

Love to try a real one just once though  ;D

Other?  It'd be interesting to hear what the other "Others" are :-).

Mine is a cardboard "pagoda" kind of affair - concentric stars of cardboard, stacked up a tall pyramid/xmas tree shape; in brick red, and plain brown cardboard.

Sound gruesome?  Not at all - just a different colour!  Got it in Muji in Leeds 4 (?) years ago - VERY sadly, they've not had them since, and mine is definitely on its last legs.

Yup - I'm a miserable, skinflintish Scrooge!  :-)

All best - Gavin

Fake through and through in this house.......why, for the same reason I don't really like cut flowers in the house, prefer to see them growing where they belong.  Now I know these huge plantations aren't really where they belong, but you get my drift.  Don't like to see the trees cut down and then left to die in someones living room.  To this old goody goody gum drops, not only does it seem terribly sad, but also very wasteful, all that money!  Plus, won't spike the kids, won't drop needles and won't make Ava sneeze from now 'til 12th night!  :D

Real. Real. Real.  Definitely and only a real one!

LOL gavin

I ticked "other" once moved a plant from me wardrobe to downstairs..and done the tinsel angle bauble thang.... mahn was paronoid all over crimbo psml.. but now use an artificial one, which I have never fallen into...   :D :D :D.. ... srtrange u being tightfisted gavin.. being half scottish and all that LOL (soz for the negative stereotype m8) ... reminded me of an old joke.. will do an irish one too...

why was the scotsman (haha wuz gonna put "scotchman") looking under his bed? ? ? ?

becus he wuz looking for sum lost sleep!

2 irishmen flying in a bi-plane one sez to the other.... "sean, if you turned the plane upside down..... would we fall out?".....  "Oh no don't be silly Pat, Id still speak to ya"

so basically wot iz trying to say iz..... I ticked other psml but just had to babble  ;)

ciaran/ozzy

:-* :-* :-*

Getting paranoid.  Posted my message in favour of absolutely real trees and being astonished atEJ for not being real, cos thought she, of all peeps, would have, but me message vanished!

Going away to have a rethink or something!

Artificial for me too for exactly the same reasons as EJ with only one difference - no kids to spike any more. Ian sneezes the whole time if we visit folks with real trees. I think it's what they spray them with to stop the needles falling as he's OK walking in a pine wood.

Eileen.

I selected 'other' because I have one of each. Yep I know that I could have ticked 'real' and 'artificial' but it didnt seem to make sense on a poll, cos I didnt have all 'real' or all 'artificial'.  Does that make sense ???  Oooooo feel a babble alert coming on.   :D

I'm a fake one too.

I think it's just what we've always had and I don't like the idea of killing a tree just for christmas (a tree is for life, not just for Christmas!) I don't mind cut flowers, but at least you can compost those.

Also my parent's always had one, so it's what I'm used to.

Our tree, though, is gorgeous - it looks almost real. (should do, it was bloody expensive!)

Artificial this year. Mainly because it's standing on top of an expensive bookcase (it's only a 3 foot tree) and the potential for mishap (water damage) with a real tree was too great!

Had a real one last year, albeit an ickle one (we've only a small flat). Despite it being labelled as a 'non-rooted' tree it stayed alive in it's bucket of earth until around August, then died on us.

Love the smell of real trees though.

We have a real 7foot Colorado Fir Tree, which we chose at the local tree farm and all shouted "timber" as it came crashing down.
It smells of pine and oranges mixed together and is an endearing beast. Not all open branched like a trendy tree - more of a large bushy thing - but we like it. We won't bother watering it - and after christmas I'm not sure what we'll do with it - think the council run a recycling scheme - or it could go down the plot for a bonfire...

Sarah.

I have a fake one in the hall downstairs, a fake one in the hall on the first floor, but a real one ( 6 feet) in the sitting room. I love the smell of pine. But mine has lot of roots and stands in a plastic bucket.
After X mas it will be moved into the garden, like I do  every year with my X mas tree. 

artificial....but I keep promising myself a real one...next year....I love the smell of real trees we always had them when young, but like EJ I stopped when the kids came along then the grandkids and haven't got around to having one for me. ;D

I suppose i wouldnt want a cut real tree maybe for similar reasons to EJ. I would be Ok with a rooted/potted specimen that could be kept from year to year (kept in the garden for 11 months of the year in its pot). Or perhaps have a growing outdoor tree in the garden which could be decorated with outdoor lights and stick with the 'fakes' (I actualy have 2) indoors.

Not too keen on the smell of pine so maybe thats a good reason to 'go fake' ?

I think I put 'other' in the poll for those that use something else as a tree substitute (as opposed to not having any thing at all).

Oh I lurve the smell of a chrissy tree, and I have pine scented hangers in my fake one that are as old as me and they still make the whole lounge smell fabulous!  A potted one that will live year round, not one that has been oiked out and bunged in a pot which will struggle on for a month or 2 before pegging it, would be cool, or as you say Richard, an evergreen fir in the garden to decorate outside would be nice, altho I believe they grow like the clappers once they get going and can be a problem.  Our neighbours have a wee little conifer in a bright red pot outside their front door with teeny red baubles and little white lights on it, and it is as cute as a button!  :D

We have a real one that we bought when it was a baby for our daughters 1st Xmas, she's 5 now and the tree is still going. Still not big enough for the 'normal' sized baubles though -either of them  :D

Doesn't take much looking after, unlike daughter. Potted it up a couple of times otherwise it just gets a handfull of 6X (personally I prefer the bottled version) and potato peeling water every so often when I remember.

Jeremy

And as I'm doing this at home for once....................

ahhhh-she'll overtake it soon!

we have a real tree-part of our christmas 'routine' is to walk to the stables at the end of the road and pick one. other half likes to walk down the road with it - usually running by the time he gets towards the house as it's heavy!

Quote from: EJ - Emma Jane on December 21, 2004, 18:15:19
A potted one that will live year round, not one that has been oiked out and bunged in a pot which will struggle on for a month or 2 before pegging it, would be cool, or as you say Richard, an evergreen fir in the garden to decorate outside would be nice, altho I believe they grow like the clappers once they get going and can be a problem.

Yes they can EJ. Many years ago, someone who lived nextdoor to where we used to live planted out a potted christmas tree in their garden(close to our garden). By the time we moved away it had got huge and overshadowed everything around it, in spite of having the lower branches cut away at some point, (which helped a bit but not much).  ::) ::)

Mind you this wasnt as bad as the leyland hedge another neighbour put in then didnt trim >:(

Always real here, we go to our local tree farm, and choose it in November, then go back and cut it in December. It has become a tradition in our family!

It then goes out after 12th night and is recycled by our council. (though last year I fogot and it stood outside for ages, I collected the fallen needles and used them as a mulch around my runners!!) :D

Have both in our little flat as real tree has been a family tradition. The artifical one is kept as a stand by in case we're flat broke but that's yet to happen. The family always chooses trees with thick trunks and when they die I get the tree. I turn the trunk into planks (i'm a carpenter by hobby and skill) and now I've got an allotment the branches can be chippered and go onto the compost heap. The planks are generally thin, but with the family choice of getting big trees I can end up with quite a few 4 - 5 foot long planks 1/2 inch, thick 3 inches wide. Have to let them season first though but the stores smell heavenly after I've stock up. Still got the ones from two years previous and they still smell as good as the day they were cut.

Real tree for us although this year I have also bought a pot grown one which I plan to re-use each year (that's if I don't kill it between now and next Christmas). I don't mind buying a real cut tree, the way I see it, I am supporting the local farmers (I only buy from local farms), if no-one bought the trees then that space would probably be used for something else and so long as trees are growing there they provide a habitat for wildlife and the trees are replaced with little ones when they are cut down. After Christmas my tree goes through the shredder and is used in the garden so I am recycling it aswell.

Used always to have a real one but quite a numer of years ago I attended an office chrissie party, partook of refreshments (liberally), went to "tree shop" bought tree and arranged to pick it up next day. When Mr W brought it home it was too big and he had to keep sawing bits off the bottom to get it to fit and there were needles everywhere.  That was the last real tree!! I've never been happy with artificial trying to look real, so now have one that was intended as a shop window decoration - no branches, collapsible gold foil and leaves pyramid and quite effective!

Have a fake one we brought about five years ago while at uni.

Fantastic as we don't have a lot of spare space & I can squash the fake one into the corner without wrecking either tree or wallpaper.

Didn't think it looked very good this year though so I went for a walk over the park with carrier bag & secateurs & pinched a free branches of assorted greenery. Dressed the mantlepiece, fire (we don't use it - honest!) and base of the tree with greenery.

Mr Gumboot was a little shocked when got back from the pub - does em good to be surprised every now & then!

Merry christmas all  :halo:

WOW - just sen the results - neck and neck eh?

IMO there is no perfect christmas tree. Both real and fakes have their problems.

Real trees have to be bought new each year (unless you grow your own - hehe), They drop needles and need looking after to make then last (yes that means watering like any other houseplant). Fakes on the other hand last for a few years, are more cost effective as a result, and dont drop needles (but old ones might 'moult' a bit).
On the other hand 'fakes' never truly look realistic, no matter how hard the makers try. They can also be a real fiddle getting set up and looking good after being stuffed in a box in the attic for 11 months ::). For me setting up the tree is the worst part of putting the decorations up each christmas (i nearly didnt put one of ours up for this reason).   :(

With real trees they are basicaly 'ready to go' as soon as you get them home.  Just make sure they fit the house thats all!  ;D