Sorry to hear of the ailment with the hip, those of us who do this work will all face a time where you can't do the physical work, its frustrating, especially with a garden, you are not alone LOL !
I would suggest hay, straw or wet or dry grass clippings, ( latter from a lawn NOT sprayed with chemicals )
I like hay, even more so, 2nd cut where immature and seedless plants exist, a nice thick layer of it, kept moist or wet. The only thing I am unsure about is powder mold, for years I have gotten it on my cucumbers and it wipes em out. I skipped the mulch this year, let the weeds grow to about 6" and then hand weeded them out, and used them as a mulch. This worked well so far, small patch anyways, right off one end of my home, fenced in with cyclone fence removed from the pool I demo'd years ago, across the lane.
I will say that anytime I used a thick layer of hay, grass clippings, I do not have any weeds, it just snuffs them out before they get a chance. I don't get any weeds from the mulch. I like to let my lawn grow a bit at times, in dry weather and literally make hay out of it, then use that as a mulch, I prefer it dry as fresh cut grass, though loaded with nitrogen, (some plants you don't want to over do nitrogen as you just get growth and not many flowers)it becomes a slippery mush, so I'd rather make hay, collect and then apply. This molds up and like I mention, I am not sure if it was the source of the powder mold, very well may not be, at this point I do not know yet. I discovered powder mold on nearby Peonies, kind of odd, so I cut those off and removed, too close to my garden, it can easily spread, humid nights, rain, large shaded leaves like vine plants, perfect environment for it. On the other side of the house along the driveway by the garage theres a thick bunch of phlox that I don't recall how it even got started but I have looked after it for years, its enlarged over time, makes the area smell so nice, it always gets powder mold, on the lower leaves, this year it did not ! So I may be getting it from these sources.
Mulch like mentioned above or a good compost, one that has been aerobically broken down, temperature high enough to kill any seed, a thick layer of that will work right after you transplant, and soon after seed emergence, lay it in there thick, it will keep the soil cooler and moist, as well as being a great soil amendment when it gets tilled in.
My corn patch, I cultivated by hand, I had bought a troy bilt junior for the purpose, but I think I need to widen the spacing even more, + the earthway planter is hard to keep straight at times in this rock soil, (I need a planet junior, something taller and heavier) a hand held trimmer with the tiller attachment would work well here too, unless the rocks are too much on the one side. One pass by hand and it has shaded out most of the lower plants by now, I'll make one more pass, and side dress it. The grasses did take over my onions as they stunted too long, so I have to weed that by hand and see if whats there will grow, I need a lawn sweeper, as hay or mulch has been a pain to get without having a truck to use.
With the deer, I have found that liquid fence from TSC or elswhere does work nicely. I could not afford a decent fence, + its a pain to erect and take down, which I have done with the upper patch at times, I leave it now. You can get some inexpensive posts at TSC, the push in ones and then use a higher test fishing line, say with some clumps of beverage cans, on buckets, that will clang when the deer hit the line, that will pattern them away, as well as that spray, which reeks something awful, but dissipates as I can't smell it, deer and rabbits don't seem to like it. its $40 for concentrate that makes 5 gallons, which will go along way in a hand sprayer, I have been using it on a 35 x 80 area, mostly on corn and they have nailed just a few plants, all which came back given the rain, first year since '97 I've had sweet corn, the deer are thick and they are persistent here, so I know this does work, the corn was planted a month ago and the 64 day corn is waist high right now, also on new ground, I must have done something right !
Raised beds is also another consideration, seem to be a lot easier to deal with.
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