Do you really want to be eating chemicals from paper and cardboard manufacturing? Google chemicals used in paper and pulp manufacturing.

Till in manure and compost, rake it smooth for planting. Then I'd spread clear plastic over the area and solarize it for a month, which should kill weed seedlings, then remove it. You can keep up with future weeds by careful deep mulching, weeding, and use of an occillating hoe. After a few years, the work should get easier. Have fun!

My yard was essentially a field when we moved in 18 months ago. Through late fall and winter, I collected up bagged leaves from my neighborhood week after week, then ground them up and spread them thickly over the areas where I wanted garden beds. When I was ready to plant, I dug under, surface leaves and all this time, though I made sure to fertilize well, with compost and small amounts of commercial fertilizer, since I knew the uncomposted leaves in the soil would use up some of the necessary soil nutrients. After planting, I mulched everything around the plantings with more ground leaves - lots of them. My garden produced well this year, and I can tell the organic material in the soil makes a difference - what was very hard and impervious can now be easily dug into. I'll probably continue this cycle of adding finished compost with the planting process, mulching, and then digging it all in after harvest, but I am certain that in the next year or so, as the initial additions are well broken down in the soil, that this place will have very nice soil for growing. A year ago most of this ground was like concrete, but already it is softer and filled with earthworms. I have people commenting on how amazing my yard is, with an amazing mixture of flowers, vegetables, still small fruit trees, and more. I'm still working on the lawn to compliment it all, but I'm amazed at the transformation the last year. So my recommendation is to pile all the organic matter you can over the area, and let things go to work.