Need Opinions/Wisdom

[hyperlightboards48]

This year I expanded my garden from about 8x16 to 16x30 mainly because I bought a tiller for my 1450 and I wanted somewhere to use it. When I expanded I didn’t remove sod, I didn’t kill the sod I simply tilled it under(I’m aware this is a mistake now). This took a long time and a lot of passes but I eventually tilled down about 6-8 inches everywhere. Then I planted my plants, some by seed some from pots. I kept up really well for about 4 weeks with weeding. But eventually grass/weeds took over. The old section of the garden that existed prior to this year is fine, but the new area was just not possible for me to keep up. I have let this new area go now for about 2 weeks and it is thick 2 foot tall grass. At this point I have decided this year is a wash and I need to prepare better for next year. So I sprayed the area with a herbicide, waited a day or two and I mowed everything down then applied herbicide again since more is exposed.

I am aware I have made some mistakes, please point them out so I can learn…

Options/questions

• Now that I have used killer in the garden I am good to go next year?
• I just wimped out and I need to weed for 10 hours a week for the first few years until I successfully make the soil free of seed. Is it just the first few years that are hard?
• Cover the area with black plastic for a couple months to kill the dormant weeds
• Bring in black dirt to go on top of existing soil to provide a new seedless base
• Cover garden with mulch every year- does this kill dormant seeds or does it just suppress them?
• Something else?

PS- the garden smelled very nice while mowing down, aroma from onion, cucumber and basil was lovely.