Thanks, Rhonda. Since it's so much work, I'm considering mini hugel kultur about 2 down, but below where I'm amending. Just a shallow one to hold in moisture since I'm planting tomatoes and right away. I think it'll help deter bermuda. Bermuda .. or, at least, my bermuda doesn't like the rich environment. Seems to prefer dry crappy soil or, at least, my dry crappy clay soil. Some place have nothing growing.

Cardboard atop the root zone with hay mulch.

Looks like all that's left is a make-shift wind break !

Bon, Is it your plan to have a sort of checkerboard pattern with unimproved areas in between improved areas? And, is the soil there dense and slow-draining clay? If the answer to both those questions is "yes", remember that those of us with dense, slow-draining clay need to avoid creating the bathtub effect by having improved soil at grade level with unimproved soil all around it. You might be creating a situation where heavy rainfall drains off the soil surface of the dense, unimproved clay areas into the looser, more friable soil in the adjacent double-dug areas. I do not know what your unamended clay soil is like, but mine is rock-hard when dry.

Bermuda grass invades my garden from the fence lines and works its way into really rich soil, by the way. The only difference is that in the rich, friable soil, it is a lot easier to dig out the bermuda.

Dawn

Sort of. And not really. Without compaction it's an erosive site. My issue is the lower level with the stolons and roots. I can work the first 4 inches pretty good. I hope to have some cover crops or deep mulch in the other areas.

My problem lies, really, in not knowing what to expect of the tomato roots as they are greeted by these weeds. lol

Bon, I'm glad others spoke up sooner. I'm on the road right now.
Your plan sounds good to me. I have done such soil improvement, moving things around each year. Little by little the whole garden improves. I doubt I'll ever eliminate Bermuda. But as the soil softens it does become a little less troublesome. Johnson Grass is a true pain in the neck, though. I hope to get it down more with time.

Thank ya, sir. It's okay. Weeds aren't going anywhere any time soon. ha

Bon, I suspect the tomato roots will do just fine. One summer, a friend of mine decided to have a garden. She rototilled the soil and planted tomatoes and other stuff. Then she completely allowed the bermuda grass and Johnson grass and everything else to totally invade the garden and take it back, so it looked like a yard....with a few veggies sticking up out of the lawn. She had a great harvest, so much so that it irritated her dad, who had a standard, well-maintained "proper" garden and probably got fewer tomatoes per plant than she got in her bermuda grass garden. She also did no soil improvement. So, if your main worry is just whether the tomato plants can get through the bermuda grass roots, I think they probably can, based on what happened with her garden.

Dawn

ha That's so awesome. Yay Messy Productive Gardens!