Festive decorations - The natural way

By Hannah Stephenson

If you've left decoration-buying until the last festive minute, it's easy to reach out for all the brightly coloured, sparkling Christmas baubles and wreaths tumbling from the shop shelves.

But don't be so blinded by glitz, and panic, that you end up spending a fortune on decorations you don't necessarily like or care about. There's a much cheaper, prettier and more heart-felt array of decorations - and decoration makers - lurking much closer to home.

As the kids break up from school, let them loose (well, for a short while) in your kitchen cupboard, where they'll find delights like icing sugar - a snowy addition to pretty much anything - and long-forgotten goodies, like dried chillies, cinnamon sticks, fragrant bay leaves and other edibles, all perfect for adding to wreaths for your front door.

While a 'relaxed' and natural look is great though, do remind them that these items, in particular dried chillies, should be placed either on their own or in pairs in even spacings around the wreath to create uniformity and style, or you'll end up with a mish-mash of garden ephemera which will look disjoined and messy.

A cheap bag of mixed whole nuts can also be added to a traditional wreath using glue, while cinnamon sticks can be tied in bunches with ribbon or raffia and added to presents, or used to create name plates on the Christmas table by slotting the name card between the tied sticks. Fruits such as oranges can also be dried to add to decorations or pot pourri.

Once you're done with the kitchen foraging, head out into the garden for an even greater wealth of decoration material.

There are fallen cones or berries left over from autumn, plus the obvious berried holly and ivy, or clippings from the Christmas tree.

If you are making a wreath, weave in the coloured stems of dogwood to add colour and depth, while other additions to decorations might include purple Callicarpa bodinieri, cotoneaster or viburnum. Variegated euonymus also looks great in a variety of table decorations.

If you grow allium in your garden, consider using the impressive lollipop seedheads to add to the arrangement, spraying them silver or another colour to complement your scheme indoors. Allium schubertii are particularly good for this or if you want something smaller, try 'Purple Sensation'.

If you've already ditched your alliums this year, consider using them next year, cutting them when the flower has faded and left seedheads, but before winter kicks in. Spray them and then keep them indoors - the paint should keep them looking good for several years.

The real secret of Christmas decorations is to squirrel away bits and pieces from your garden throughout the year, so seedheads and leaves, flowers and foliage can be dried, spray-painted and then stored for the festive season.

Save seeds of Nigella damascena (love-in-a-mist), poppies and Lunaria annua (honesty). Some of these look great sprayed silver or gold, to match your colour scheme.

If you grow Chinese lanterns, you have a ready-made brilliant orange adornment, which you can mix with bright berries picked from hedgerows to add to your Christmas table.

Of course, it's not only the looks of Christmas decorations that make them special though, the scent is also important. Cut sprigs and leaves from fragrant garden plants including rosemary, lavender, bay, thyme and sage to use as an aromatic base for a church candle, placing the leaves and sprigs around the candle on a candle holder with a lip or a dish with a well, adding a little water to the candle holder to keep them slightly damp.

Oh, and for pretty much all these decorations, don't forget to invest in some florist's wire. It might not be a wild, or free, addition, but it is essential if you want your decorations to last throughout the festive season, and beyond.

Best of the bunch - Poinsettia (Euphorbia pulcherrima)

It's the definitive houseplant of Christmas, its showy bracts appearing in shades of red, pink, white and cream. If kept in the right conditions they can last for months but stick them in a really warm room or in a draught and they will droop and probably not recover. Poinsettias need maximum light during winter and prefer to be kept at temperatures between 55-60F. Water them well initially but then wait until the compost is pretty dry before watering again. Overwatering is the most common reason for the loss of leaves, as the surface of the compost needs to be dry before you water the plant again. Mist the leaves regularly to keep the plant looking good as they prefer moist air. If the flower heads come off, it's usually because the air is too dry and the room is too warm. If the leaves fall without wilting first, you've probably subjected them to either excessive heat or excessive cold.

Good enough to eat - Brussels sprouts

I know many people dislike sprouts but that's because, historically, they've been overcooked, losing any flavour and crisp texture by the time they reach the festive table. But now there are many recipes to give your Brussels a boost, adding everything from crispy bacon to chestnuts - so surely it's time to give them another chance?

Like all brassicas, sprouts like a neutral or slightly alkaline soil, but you need to do a pH test early because if you need to add lime to the soil it should be done at least a month before adding organic matter. Also rake in some general fertiliser before planting. Sow seed from mid-March to mid-April for a winter crop. If you only want enough sprouts to see you through Christmas, just sow a few seeds in 9cm pots and keep them outside in a sheltered spot or coldframe, making sure the compost is kept moist. Once the seedlings appear in a couple of weeks, thin them to one per pot and plant them out in May, when they have reached about 15cm. Water the soil in the days before and plant so that the lower leaves are just above the soil surface, firming them down and watering well.

Keep the area weed-free and water in the plants. A month after planting, sprinkle a nitrogen-rich fertiliser on to the soil surface and water it in if the weather's dry.

By October, the sprouts should be ready for harvesting, which you do by picking them little and often. They should be fine remaining on the plant until you are ready to pick them. Start at the bottom of the stalk, either pulling them off with your fingers or a sharp knife. Picking them after they have thawed after a frost is said to make them sweeter.

Top buy - Courgette Royal Flush

The Christmas holidays provide a perfect time to plan ahead. If you're a vegetable gardener with a shortage of space, you might want to start this planning with a F1 courgette, bred especially for gardeners on very small plots. The miniature plant promises to produce large crops of 'baby' courgettes with small, dark green-skinned fruits, even in a patio container. Fruits can be left longer to grow larger. (Johnsons, £2.40 for 10 seeds, www.johnsons-seeds.com or 0845 658 9147)

What to do this week

:: If severe cold weather is forecast, take winter and spring-interest hanging baskets under cover until it warms up.

:: Cut off the yellowing leaves of polyanthus and primroses and remove dead flowers using scissors.

:: Continue winter pruning apples and pears.

:: Take cuttings of perpetual-flowering carnations and pinks.

:: Order dahlia tubers from specialist mail order catalogues and online.

:: Continue to protect tender shrubs grown against exposed walls, such as ceanothus, from frost, by securing screens of fine mesh netting around the plants, filling the gap between the shrub and the netting with straw. Alternatively wrap the plants in horticultural fleece.

:: Take hardwood cuttings of hardy climbers.

:: Continue clearing ground for new beds, digging out perennial weeds and leaving soil rough for the frost to break it down.

:: Add compost to ground that's been dug over.

:: Pot up lily bulbs in the greenhouse.

:: Prune any roses in the greenhouse that you are forcing in containers for early flowers.

:: Plan and design new heather beds.

:: Autumn-sown pelargonium seedlings and cuttings taken in September and October and kept indoors should now be established. If necessary, pot them on into larger pots.

:: Protect sweet pea seedlings in a cold frame if severe frost is expected.