How are you supposed to get anything done in these temperatures? It’s freezing, and that’s during the day, I shudder to think what it’s like in the middle of the night. Thank goodness for central heating!

Last year at this time I’d already mowed the lawn once, not much chance of that this year. The plants and animals that live out in this must be tough as old boots.

Fuchsias don’t fall into this category, or at least most of them don’t. We used to have a lot of different varieties, but we’ve lost them over the years. Getting them through the winter needs a lot of room and taking cuttings at a time of frantic seed sowing is also space and labour intensive. I’m thinking of buying some plug plants this year.

However, two of our old stagers are a red and white variety, whose name has got lost in the mists of time. These big plants sit in large tubs at each side of the bench by the boiler house. I take the plants out of these tubs each Autumn, so they can over winter in the conservatory, and put primroses and tiny daffodils in their place for early Spring colour.

When I did this job last year I was only able to pot up one of the fuchsias, I can’t remember why. Anyway, sods law being what it is, we immediately had about 3 nights of quite keen frosts, while the remaining plant was still outside. I covered it each night with a sack, but to my disappointment this didn’t seem to offer enough protection and all it’s leaves turned brown and crisp and fell off. Undeterred, I potted it up at the first opportunity and popped it in the conservatory with it’s mate, and a sorry sight it looked too.

So the only bit of good news I have today is that this fuchsia is alive and starting to sprout tiny green shoots. Roll on Spring.