Christmas starts now, when we're thinking Christmas trees

Things to do in the garden this week

• Plant a bit of colour in your windowboxes and tubs

• It’s ideal weather for tidying shrub beds

• Clean out polythene tunnels and greenhouses, as bugs and diseases can over-winter in old compost and spent foliage.

• Dig a bit of well-rotted compost or farmyard manure into beds for cropping next season

The Christmas season starts earlier and earlier every year, and any of us with any sense ignore the excessive commercialism.

For me Christmas starts just about now, when everyone is thinking Christmas trees.

There’s the annual debate on whether to get a real one or an artificial one, a big or a small one, a wide one – and so on.

Everyone’s taste is different but I say nothing beats a real tree.

There is the drama of choosing it, putting it up and making sure it’s straight.

At least with the modern lights, there’s no hassle with fuses and bulbs, and they’re much safer.

Most real trees nowadays are specifically grown for the Christmas market, so if you buy your tree from a legitimate source ,you know it hasn’t been cut out of the woods.

It takes 10 to 12 years on a Christmas tree farm to produce a seven- to eight-foot non-shedding tree. They will have been trimmed and trained to produce the perfect shape.

There’s a few things you should remember to get the best from your real tree. That lovely pine fragrance will only persist to any degree if you can prevent the tree from drying out, and to achieve that, you need to have the bottom inch or so from the stem removed, thereby giving the tree a freshly cut stem that will absorb water.

Nowadays, you can get water retaining Christmas tree stands that can be topped up from time to time, and I am told that by adding some 7up to the water, you will get an even better result.

If you haven’t got a water-retaining stand, use a regular plastic bucket filled with sand. That will support the tree and you can also add water.

Just wrap your bucket in wrapping paper or hessian to give it a festive look.

Christmas trees are extremely flammable, so don’t put them anywhere near open fires or too close to your TV.

Never leave Christmas tree lights on at night. I’ve changed over to the new generation of battery lights for safety. Thesy are ultra-efficient and there’s no danger of them catching fire. They have automatic timers that turn them on and off at the appointed times and one set of batteries should suffice over Christmas.