Have you thought about trying a sq. foot garden? For some of mine, we removed some of the soil, put down cardboard and covered it with Mel’s mix. I had zero weeds for 4 years, then I used some hay for mulch that hubby had bought instead of straw. Bad move started to get some weeds.
Yes, and have already a sizable collection of cardboard (mainly for just covering large areas of Horehound weeds), but there are plans to put in one or two raised beds using the cardboard as a weed barrier at the bottom. For now, though, I’m having fun with the buckets, while I draw plans for the badly needed back porch steps.