Preparing for onion sets and garlic

Tuesday 16th October
Arriving quite late in the morning meant I could only do the one top priority task. My garlic and autumn onion and shallot sets arrived in the post yesterday and needed planting out as soon as possible. However they need to go in the old potato patch and that was rough and ridged after digging out the spuds.
I realised this was just the right situation for the cultivator. The patch at about 4 metres square was just big enough, the ground roughly dug over and all the serious weeds had been dug out.

​Being able to step onto the asparagus bed made things a bit easier but it was still hard work manoeuvring the cultivator around but the result was a lovely tilth all over the patch.
I finished off by shovelling a heap of compost onto the strip where I plan to plant the new strawberry bed, though I first had to move a pile of asparagus fern and courgette haulms into a stack next to the compost bins ready for when I rebuild the bin.
It then took me age to clean the machine down before putting it away as it had not been cleaned last time.
Before going home for a very late lunch I hoed the cucumber patch and removed the weeds, finding a couple of cucumbers hiding amongst them. I then harvested a good picking of French beans.