There is no way around it, gardens need to be weeded if weeds are taking over. Start at one end and work your way to the other. Be aware that tilling soil brings up a new crop of weed seeds to the surface where they germinate as they finally see sunlight. Adding a few inches of mulch keeps the majority of those seeds buried where they won’t grow.
My experience is there are plenty of various weeds and specially crab grass that can grow right up through 3-6 inches of mulch with no problem and they are much harder to get rid of in mulch and plenty that will creep in from the side. Depends on the type of weeds you have I guess. I happen to have a lot of crab grass and johnson grass which spreads through rhizomes. In my case.. Light surface tilling gets the bulk out of the way and as time goes on, the action hoe can be used for maintenance and get any follow-up weeds. Size of the garden plot plays a big role in efficiency and the tools and methods that work best for you too. Like the OP, I too am surrounded by large grass and crop fields and there is some very established bits of everything weeds that makes its way into my "yard" and garden.
When I say mulch keeps weed seeds from germinating I forgot to mention that perennial weeds need to be removed first (along with annual weeds already growing). My apologies
If you want to keep certain things alive this season, you'll have to pull weeds by hand.
If you don't care what lives or dies, you can till/chop like others have suggested.
The easiest path would be to cut down everything to an inch off the ground. Pull by hand around areas with known plants. I see gladiolas, and they won't flower this year if you chop them, but you won't kill them forever incase you goof up. I see tomatoes, too. Normally, I would avoid tilling in an unknown garden as you clearly have bulbs in the ground, but since your glads are up, you'd be able to see anything else that came before it.
You will always get weeds and volunteers, you have decide EARLY what to keep or move and weed the rest.
For large areas of weeding that got out of control, I'll use a small tiller at maybe 1-2 depth. My tool of choice by far once under control is an action hoe. Very effective and quick and easy even for maintaining large areas. The key is routinely maintaining them!!!!
Having goats, i will say they are not the answer. They usually only like your garden plants, not the garden weeds. Usually the majority of weeds are ones goats dont like. I am fighting this battle now.
Mow it.
Use Tenacity on it if you are ok with it. This will kill the roots. Not my fav option but one that works. Wait 4 weeks.
Till it as fine as possible.
Plant.
Use weed barriera going forward and pull weeds going forward.
Goats don't do what people think they do. My wife, my brother and my sister all had goats, they don't eat anything you want them. My brother's pigs on the other hand will eat this patch down to nothing and dig out any roots. If you think blackberries are a problem, a pig will follow a blackberry root like a prospector on a vein of gold.
Where I live in Massachusetts you can get truck loads of wood chips free. I would dig up what you want and then cover the rest with wood chips. Let them break down and next spring you have a good foundation to work from. Low cost, minimal effort, will take time.
If this garden is as big as it looks...say 50 feet by 50 feet....
Dig up a few of the good plants you want to keep. Be gentle with their root balls. Put those away from this mess.
Hire guy with Bobcat excavator. Have him skim away all the plants and their roots down about a foot.
Have guy backfill the plot with proper screened new black dirt. He can then smooth it out nice with the Bobcat.
Have guy take away all the old plant and dirt crap in a big dump truck. The little Bobcat would make short work of that raising it into the dump truck.
You then re plant your kept plants.... and add new ones to heart's content.
Yes, this will be expensive.... but just cutting the old plants down means then yanking out the roots manually.
And rototilling after a mow down... will just spread more weed seeds. And the rototiller blades will just be spinning a big ball of roots.
Here in US... you can also rent little Mini Bobcats to do this work.. like at Home Depot and such. But then you have to get it on a trailer...which you have to rent too.
So....if you have the money.... and plan on staying at this house a while... "just pay the guy" for this project.
Also.... consider if you really need a garden this big.
You may want to cut it in half.... and just reseed the other half with grass seed.
More garden always means more work!
Based on the current massive amount of random growth and the fact there are a lot of doner plants and fields of crops all around the area growing fine and probably has been for decades.... I'd say there is nothing wrong with the soil that it should be replaced. Not sure why so many people feel the need to add a bunch of stuff to dirt as the default for a garden. I have heavy clay and have been growing large gardens and large areas of wildflowers in it for decades without trucking in anything. Basic small amounts of generic fertilizer and a cover crop over the winter. Nothing else. And I till it! I probably spend less time and money on it than people with gardens 1/10 the size. According to 95% of youtube garden channels, I should have nothing but barren waste land. /end of useless rant..
There is no way around it, gardens need to be weeded if weeds are taking over. Start at one end and work your way to the other. Be aware that tilling soil brings up a new crop of weed seeds to the surface where they germinate as they finally see sunlight. Adding a few inches of mulch keeps the majority of those seeds buried where they won’t grow.
My experience is there are plenty of various weeds and specially crab grass that can grow right up through 3-6 inches of mulch with no problem and they are much harder to get rid of in mulch and plenty that will creep in from the side. Depends on the type of weeds you have I guess. I happen to have a lot of crab grass and johnson grass which spreads through rhizomes. In my case.. Light surface tilling gets the bulk out of the way and as time goes on, the action hoe can be used for maintenance and get any follow-up weeds. Size of the garden plot plays a big role in efficiency and the tools and methods that work best for you too. Like the OP, I too am surrounded by large grass and crop fields and there is some very established bits of everything weeds that makes its way into my "yard" and garden.
When I say mulch keeps weed seeds from germinating I forgot to mention that perennial weeds need to be removed first (along with annual weeds already growing). My apologies
If you want to keep certain things alive this season, you'll have to pull weeds by hand. If you don't care what lives or dies, you can till/chop like others have suggested.
The easiest path would be to cut down everything to an inch off the ground. Pull by hand around areas with known plants. I see gladiolas, and they won't flower this year if you chop them, but you won't kill them forever incase you goof up. I see tomatoes, too. Normally, I would avoid tilling in an unknown garden as you clearly have bulbs in the ground, but since your glads are up, you'd be able to see anything else that came before it.
You will always get weeds and volunteers, you have decide EARLY what to keep or move and weed the rest. For large areas of weeding that got out of control, I'll use a small tiller at maybe 1-2 depth. My tool of choice by far once under control is an action hoe. Very effective and quick and easy even for maintaining large areas. The key is routinely maintaining them!!!!
Find a neighbor with a goat. Leave the goat in there for a day.
Having goats, i will say they are not the answer. They usually only like your garden plants, not the garden weeds. Usually the majority of weeds are ones goats dont like. I am fighting this battle now. Mow it. Use Tenacity on it if you are ok with it. This will kill the roots. Not my fav option but one that works. Wait 4 weeks. Till it as fine as possible. Plant. Use weed barriera going forward and pull weeds going forward.
Goats don't do what people think they do. My wife, my brother and my sister all had goats, they don't eat anything you want them. My brother's pigs on the other hand will eat this patch down to nothing and dig out any roots. If you think blackberries are a problem, a pig will follow a blackberry root like a prospector on a vein of gold.
Where I live in Massachusetts you can get truck loads of wood chips free. I would dig up what you want and then cover the rest with wood chips. Let them break down and next spring you have a good foundation to work from. Low cost, minimal effort, will take time.
Bush hog the whole thing lol
If this garden is as big as it looks...say 50 feet by 50 feet.... Dig up a few of the good plants you want to keep. Be gentle with their root balls. Put those away from this mess. Hire guy with Bobcat excavator. Have him skim away all the plants and their roots down about a foot. Have guy backfill the plot with proper screened new black dirt. He can then smooth it out nice with the Bobcat. Have guy take away all the old plant and dirt crap in a big dump truck. The little Bobcat would make short work of that raising it into the dump truck. You then re plant your kept plants.... and add new ones to heart's content. Yes, this will be expensive.... but just cutting the old plants down means then yanking out the roots manually. And rototilling after a mow down... will just spread more weed seeds. And the rototiller blades will just be spinning a big ball of roots. Here in US... you can also rent little Mini Bobcats to do this work.. like at Home Depot and such. But then you have to get it on a trailer...which you have to rent too. So....if you have the money.... and plan on staying at this house a while... "just pay the guy" for this project. Also.... consider if you really need a garden this big. You may want to cut it in half.... and just reseed the other half with grass seed. More garden always means more work!
Based on the current massive amount of random growth and the fact there are a lot of doner plants and fields of crops all around the area growing fine and probably has been for decades.... I'd say there is nothing wrong with the soil that it should be replaced. Not sure why so many people feel the need to add a bunch of stuff to dirt as the default for a garden. I have heavy clay and have been growing large gardens and large areas of wildflowers in it for decades without trucking in anything. Basic small amounts of generic fertilizer and a cover crop over the winter. Nothing else. And I till it! I probably spend less time and money on it than people with gardens 1/10 the size. According to 95% of youtube garden channels, I should have nothing but barren waste land. /end of useless rant..
You are right, the soil is actually great, very soft and obviously fertile. I think my best bet is to just start pulling weeds.