Garden tip: How to prepare your home for the holidays
The holiday season is coming. Are you giving gardening gifts or gifts from your garden? How about practical gifts like gloves or pruners? For the non-gardener, provide some of the fruits of your garden, jams or lavender sachets.
If you bought a live Christmas tree for indoors, you will want to give it special care. Keep it away from the fireplace or heater vents, and water it when the soil feels dry (probably every other day). Use small lights to not dry out the needles. If you plan to use the tree again next year, keep it indoors for only a week to 10 days.
Light up your front door or entryway with a swag of greens collected from your garden. Add a pot or two of colorful violas, primroses or cyclamen. Put in a strand of small Christmas lights around the doorframe and voila, a welcoming entrance for your holiday guests.
— Katie Martin, UC Marin master gardener