Beware - sleepy ladybirds..

Over the last few days I've spent most of my available time outside, getting used to physical labour on a daily basis! On average it amounts to around 5 hours per day.

This week so far I've managed to:
* complete major winter pruning of a large pear tree in my back garden.
* emptied out a large compost container (300 litre size); which generated 8 large bags of good compost which I used as a top dressing on the front garden borders.
* tidied up the front garden borders; cutting back dead wood from many shrubs - also I had to remove a number of plants that didn't make it through the harsh winter - a couple of small Hebes, and a Convolvulus cneorum (this isn't really that tolerant of cold, wet winters so it isn't surprising -10c finally killed it off!), a Pittosporum tenuifolium (also fell to the harsh temperatures).

One thing I noticed in particular was the number of sleepy ladybirds. I lost count in the end, amazing to find so many had survived the bitter winter temperatures and pleased to find them sheltering in and under the plants - so I was careful to avoid destroying their temporary homes (and waking them up!).

I also got to the allotment for a few hours and started preparing the soil for the first potatoes that should be planted in March (weather permitting) and also took the time to prune back some growth on the dessert apples that I'd missed during the summer pruning. I also took out the growing tip of the cooking apple I'm growing as an espalier - this should encourage some new laterals to form what will be the final top level of the espalier (making 4 tiers in total). I'll try and get a picture next time to illustrate.

When its been wet I've been in the house producing a sketch scale plan of the back garden; something I'd started a while ago but now I have the interest and impetus to complete it. There are some changes I'd like to make to some features in the garden, such as replacing the patio area, renewing some pathways and reshaping the lawn - and replacing many of the shrubs and herbacious plants that we've had for years. Plenty to think about and plenty to do...

Also, this week I noticed a pair of blue tits becoming very interested in one of the nest boxes in the garden. Last year a pair built a nest in one of the boxes I had put up, and we thought they were sitting on eggs. Unfortunately we believe something upset them and they went elsewhere. So, given the renewed interest this year I took the opportunity to open the nest boxes and clean them out - there were no signs of eggs. I found a beautifully formed nest in the one box, all sorts of materials had been used - very clever. So, we watch with interest this year and hope they'll stay around.

I have my first potential client next week to visit so I'll be interested to see how this goes.

Business advertising in some of the local shops should be in place by Monday the 14th February.