Hello, I live near Carrboro, NC and am renting a 0.3 acre plot of land (maybe 100' x 20' garden space) this year for a garden for me and my family. We are planning on making a large vegetable garden (largely organic practices) this year with basic mixed crops (e.g. beans, tomatoes, brassicas, carrots, squash) with trap/sacrificial plants, herbs, and flowers for pest management. I am writing to ask for advice on how best to set up the land of the season (as planting is soon upon us). Specifically, what are you feelings on tilling and mulching and adding compost before spring planting? This land has previously been worked as a flower farm operation and last fall was bushhogged back to the ground but it is still a bit coarse. It is a sandy loam in full sun on a mild slope facing south. I am back and forth about if I should rent a tilling machine and till the rows before planting, or if I should just loosen the top a bit with a cultivator and just plant/transplant directly. Do you have any guidance on this? Also, do you have any recommendations for adding compost/mulch to the soil as topdressing? I am just leasing the land initially for a year, so I am hesitant to dump too much money into someone else's soil. Lastly, for once everything is planted and established in the ground, what do you recommend to help prevent weeds/retain moisture? I cannot do landscape cloth in this location. I have been considering planting watermelons and nasturtiums as groundcover below things like tomatoes/peppers to reduce weeding burden/evaporation. I am considering paying for some mulch dropped off but don't know how much that might be and it might be too expensive for me. If you have any other recommendations for a first-time NC gardener, I'm all ears as well. I've got some experience (grandparents are farmers, parents in ag) but haven't done anything but container gardening in 15 years. Thank you, Matt