At the risk of being scolded for redirecting you, this question might get you more responses on the Compost forum or Perennial or New to Gardening or your Regional forum, not being really a design question.

That said, if it were my weed patch, I'd probably kill off the poison ivy and any stubborn perennial weeds with a brush killer sprayed selectively on those plants only instead of on the whole plot, wait a few weeks, and then do some serious sheet composting (aka lasagna gardening) to add organic matter unless I had a lot of ready-to-use compost to add. If you mix in the compost in the spring, the soil disturbance will bring a LOT of weed seeds to the surface.

I use few "products". Home made compost is my best friend, along with a little slow release fertilizer added during the growing season for the heavy feeders. Soil tests are inexpensive and usually available at county Extension offices connected to land-grant Universities for less than $10.

Sounds like a good plan. When deciding on plants, find out about your deer situation. If you live out in "exurbia" with a lot of deer, you could end up planting a "deer salad" as my friend described his landscaping. There's lots written on line about deer resistant plants. You may need to consider some fencing, depending on what you want to do. But if there's a lot of hunting around where you live you may not have much of a problem. Suburban and rural aren't too bad with deer, it's the fringe areas in between that are notorious. My friends have as many deer as squirrels in their yard.