In Denmark we divide the year in four seasons:
Winter December, January and February
Spring March, April and Mai
Summer           June, July and August
Autumn           September, October and November

So right now we are in the winter season and all fuchsias are indoors. We could expect night frost as early as the beginning of October and we can have frost until late Mai.

Late September or in the beginning of October I  cut my fuchsias back, remove all leaves and store the plants for the winter in my Greenhouse cellar. The greenhouse has a wooden floor insulated with 100 mm rock wool to avoid the frost reaching the plants contained in the cellar. The middle part of the floor can be opened so that the plants can be put in the cellar for the winter, and afterwards the middle part of the floor is covered with rock wool mats. 

In Denmark we measure the temperature in centigrade and the average temperatures in the three winter months are +1,8º, +0,1º and -0,1º but the actual temperature can vary a lot from this average. In fact the night temperature was down to minus 10º in February 2006 and the night temperature stayed below zero until the end of April. In December the number of hours with daylight is very limited - daylight from about 8.oo-8.30 in the morning to 3.30-4.00 in the afternoon.

The winter this year has until now been a very mild one with day temperature up to  +12º and +5-7º during the night in December. That’s good as well as bad. We save a lot of energy heating our houses but the fuchsias have already started the new season by being in bud and many already with green leaves.

Normally I would start the new season in February bringing the plants from the dark in the cellar up in the greenhouse so they can enjoy the daylight slowly coming back to us. The outdoor temperature will still be low so I use electric heating to keep the frost out of the greenhouse.

Depending on the weather conditions I put the fuchsias in the garden late May, at which time they are quite impossible to have in the greenhouse due to the growth although they are pruned as much as possible. Most fuchsias will flower in June but in the middle of July they are at their best.

In the middle of June we have daylight from about 3.00 o’clock in the morning to about 11 pm. The average temperature during the summertime is about 15-17º but also in the summertime the temperature varies a lot. The summer 2006 has been unusually hot in Denmark with temperatures up till 29º, which has given the fuchsias a very hard time. My experience is that temperatures between 20-25 º suit my fuchsias best.

My plants are not growing in peat. I am using coco peat, which I buy in 110 litre bags. I find coco peat really pleasant to work with and it has the following advantages, which I appreciate:

• First of all it is nice to know that it is a waste product from the coconut production. So I am not using the earths peat resources for my hobby
• Coco peat can contain 800 times its own weight in water
• Coco peat leaves 20% oxygen with the roots
• And finally Coco peat is not transformed as fast as peat therefore the same coco peat can be reused over a number of years.

Due to the fact that coco peat has neither fertilizer nor any manure value I add 1/3 extra fertilizer each time during the growth period and I start fertilising very early but with a lower concentration. I use liquid fertilizer each time I am watering the plants and for most plants that’s daily. I use only rainwater and also here I have to compensate by adding calcium (Ca) because rainwater is lacking Ca. I can store 3,5 m³ rainwater and normally that’s sufficient because we get rain during the summer. I have about 150 different fuchsias.