Morning Mike,
I started in summer 2017. When finished my plot will be just under 4000 sq ft, I am doing it in phases over 3 years. I didn’t have any “woody weeds” (brambles,etc) but had a wonderful crop of couch, dandelion, buttercup, thistle and bindweed. I started off by mowing it all down. In June/July I created the first beds using horse manure 6 inches deep which had been stacked between 3 and 6 months. Too fresh really but impatience got the better of me! Immediately covered with black polythene.
In October I started to roll back the polythene and planted spring cabbage, garlic and overwintering onions. Thereafter spring planting as normal.
I had some couch and bindweed come through and just kept pulling it out as it will eventually disappear (I hope!). Certainly seemed to be getting less as the year progressed.
This is now the first winter where I am applying the top-up layer of compost to the first beds.
I am basically following the same pattern with the rest of the patch as time and resources allow.
I have attached a couple of pictures to show last summer, you can see the next beds under polythene at the back, and one of the new beds re composted.
All I can say is, it works for me.