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Kiltarlity Christmas Tree Farm

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Kiltarlity Christmas Tree Farm

Christmas tree plantation So far we have 597 trees growing but thy are still quite small - the biggest around 18 inches high and wide!

Kiltarlity Christmas Tree Farm grows wild, organic Nordman Fir Christmas Trees in pots and in the ground of our croft in the Scottish Highlands. We sell our trees by mail order or you can collect.

27/11/2021

Looks like three years have gone by since our last update so with a little snow falling today, Christmas four weeks away and our babies now 6 years old it seemed like it was about time. The good news is most of our hundreds of trees are still here and still growing. The biggest, out in the woodland, have reached 6 feet high, but we kept most of them in pots and these are growing more slowly with a bit of a Bonsai effect - more like two feet high and wide. A few, in bigger pots, are about 4 feet. We're noticing the bigger trees are growing more quickly as you'd expect. They're all beautiful trees in their own way and we're very proud of all they've achieved so far. Here are some pics...

22/12/2018

A Look Back at 2018 at the Kiltarlity Christmas Tree Farm (KCTF)
The team at KCTF have been a little neglectful on keeping you up to date on developments over the past year (despite constant reminders from Facebook that everyone was waiting to hear from us…), so far that we apologise to you and to the great Facebook.
The good news is that most of the trees are still growing and getting bigger. The bad news is that we lost 50 or so in the summer drought. So the mystical ‘profit tree’ (see Malcolm in the Middle series 5 episode 7) is a little more distant.
We did all we could to save those poor trees, we watered them, sealed in the moisture with grass cuttings and plastic on top of the soil but it seems once they’ve decided to move on to Christmas tree heaven, that’s them away.
Another 50 or so died a bit on the ends of their tiny branches so we rushed them to a newly created ‘Christmas Tree ER’ area created down in the always-wet-whatever bog by the stream and they seem to be rallying, but we’ll know better next year.
On the upside our oldest trees which just turned three years old that haven’t pegged it are looking mighty fine young trees, the biggest about 50cm high and wide with their trunks fattening out too so hopes are high.
Along with those growing out in the field we’ve been potting on the bigger trees into 50cm pots from the 30cm ones they were in to give them more growing room.
We’re not really sure how that will play out. The fear is that the pot-grown trees could become ‘pot bound’ and stop growing much bigger (most of the ‘growing Christmas tree in a pot’ you buy in garden centres have been hacked out under the ground and stuck in a pot with a lot of their root system removed rather than really grown in the pot, the charlatans!), but the problem is if we keep getting bigger pots the trees will become too heavy to lift without a forklift so we think 50cm is the limit. But we live in hope.
In other exciting tree related news all the fruit trees seemed to enjoy the warm dry weather. We got amazing peaches almost grapefruit size on the peach tree in the polytunnel and our first apricots on the tree in there for a few years and like most apple tree owners we got a stupid amount of apples and ended up buying an apple press to try to make the best of them after people stopped taking the ones we tried to give away.

15/07/2018

2018 harvest update for fruit & veg fans... Good year for gooseberries, raspberries, black currants, peaches, apricots red currants, cherries, rhubarb ...strawberries "meh". Loads of plums and apples coming too. Good year for broad beans, French world cup beans, peas, courgettes, cucumbers (planted too many in error), corn (elephant's eye height now), cauli, sprouts, carrots, parsnips, tatties. Sunflower wall looking good so far - all about 5-6 foot high now and apart from one taken out by a hen landing on it when it was a baby (the plant not the hen), all survived so far.

09/07/2018

The apricot harvest from the tree in the polytunnel. Not quite so good as the last harvest seven years ago, but they sure taste good :)

23/05/2018

Looks like a good year for apples, so long as no late frosts...

28/05/2017

There's been an almost endless stream of demands for news from the Christmas Tree Farm about what's new, we've hardly had a moment's peace dealing with all the inquiries (thank you Helen Gawthorpe.) Well the exciting news is that our exclusive free range organic Christmas trees are mostly doing very well. We took delivery of another 200 in December from Santa so now have about 600 in our care, the oldest two years old and most are turning in to quite fine little trees, we're very proud of all they've achieved so far. The surprise challenge this spring has been DROUGHT and we realised some of the pots were drying out so have been watering Christmas trees in nearly 30C heat in May. What are the chances? Last year we spent a lot of time weeding pots to give the trees a fighting chance against invasive weeds that tried to jump in with them. This year we've put an inch deep mulch of grass clippings around each pot so hopefully that will suppress the invaders and keep the moisture in. Besides that we've been working on a big fence around the field they're in to help them feel safe from any invaders - although they're free to roam within the field if they wish of course. So all in all, all good. Here are some pics of the trees and some of their friends today...

21/12/2016

We're delighted to report that our first three baby Christmas trees have gone out in to the big wide world and found their home in Kensington, London, with the UK's longest established ski holiday operator, Erna Low Ski Holidays where they're spending the day in front of the company's magnificent ski mural, and their nights dreaming on a historic ski chair lift seat indoors.

02/08/2016

August on the Christmas Tree Farm. We've got the hay, back-up wood and fence posts in ready for winter. The first sunflower is out in the annual hedge, the peas are ready for picking, tatties looking good, polytunnel a jungle, the new hen is settling in, corn officially high enough on the 'elephant's eye' measure, the sunsets are getting better and there's an inexhaustable supply of fertiliser. Trees need weeding though :(

18/02/2016

Facebook dropped us a line: "You haven't visited Kiltarlity Christmas Tree Farm in a while and there are some quick things you can do to build interest in your Page:
Post a new update or photo. Make sure all the parts of your Page are completed, including profile picture, cover photo and about section. See our Page posting tips to increase engagement on your Page." So hope you'll feel more engaged now...

15/01/2016

Winter's here at last, time for our babies to toughen up!

Address

Kiltarlity
Inverness
IV47JH

Telephone

+441234567890

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