I’ve been working my 3000 sq foot garden for 10 years now. the spader looks great for larger plots. I have tried several methods and settled one that works for me.
I plant in 3 foot wide beds, using dense planting, and square foot methods. as soon as the crop is 3-6 inches tall, it gets heavily mulched with grass clippings. this keeps weeds down and encourages earth worms, who do the heavy lifting of keeping the soil friable, even deep down. my front tine tiller would try to dive like a submarine the soil was so soft … every gardeners dream. I had to rear tine.
between beds I have 2 foot walkways. when a more that a few weeds pop up, I set the tiller at minimum depth and do a quick pass. this keeps seeds form being brought up by deep tilling. after a few weeks, very few weeds pop up. since the walk ways and beds stay in the same place, I am seeing fewer weeds each year. as each bed is finished for the year, it gets deep tilled, and a cover crop, usually oats, is planted. I have just finished a fallow year where I let 1/2 lay fallow, followed by the other half the next year. next year i get to plant the entire plot.
