When the obsession with fuchsias started, was I enticed by the sturdy
stems of the commonal garden, hardy, red and purple, no fuss, no frills
varieties? Of course not. Nope I like the frilly, multi-coloured pathetic ones,
or non-hardy as they like to be known. With winter approaching that first year
came the realisation at the amount of time invested into raising my initial
brood of two inch plants into sizeable established ones. I didn’t fancy the
idea of losing them all over the winter and going back to square one so I set
about coming up with a plan to get them through the colder months.
Ideally, one would tuck their fuchsias into the greenhouse where they
would happily avoid the frosts. A common theme on this blog will no doubt be
the lack of a greenhouse, but god I’d love one. My granddad had two the greedy
bugger. Not requiring light during the dormant months, you can store them
inside a garage. Yes we have a garage, and no there is absolutely no way my
fuchsias were kicking the car out.
So I give you the igloo. No its not pretty but it works and luckily as
we don’t spend much time outside from November onwards this little monstrosity
is allowed to sit in the corner and quietly go about its work. Constructed
entirely from bubble wrap and fleece it prevents the soil in the pots freezing
and killing off the roots. Having cut the stems back and removed all leaves and
green material I place the pots on a layer of bubble wrap placed directly on
the patio; this prevents cold seeping up from the ground. Then depending on how
much time I have on my hands and how long I want to spend out in the cold/wet I
wrap bubble wrap individually round each pot. Fleece is spread over the whole
lot and then covered by a final layer of bubble wrap. Now admittedly I do live
quite far south in the UK and my garden is particularly sheltered, but the
first year I employed the igloo I didn’t lose a single fuchsia, not one. I did
however lose one of four kept in situ in a large pot and which is just shrouded
in fleece.
So im calling my homespun solution a success. I didn’t
enjoy hopping about in the dark securing edges with bricks but I think its
worth it. This year, I will admit the igloo looking pretty tatty but Its been
so mild an igloo has actually been unnecessary. My routine of regularly tucking
in the edges has gone a bit by the by hence the disheveled state, but theres
life in them stems yet so its all good. God knows what the neighbours
think I'm up to.
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