I have a small veggie garden.
I like to have grow out chickens in there after harvest and until snow gets to be a problem. Then I prefer to toss in chickens again in the spring until time to plant.
They do an excellent job of turning it all into bare dirt and close to weed and bug free.
My grandmother had a large veggie garden. Every year it was plowed up with the tractor.
All seeds were started in old pans amd bowls that had rusted out a bit so had drainage. Most stayed in the pan only to germination, and were planted out with just seed leaves up.
She planted in rows, and I would clean out the chicken coop in the late spring and the super nasty hay was put down in the walking paths.
I think she used a regular hoe(not stirrup)to weed around plants.