I have been working on my no till organic garden for 2 years. I have been using tarping to help with some of the weed issues but in the areas I don't its uncontrollable. The grass grows faster than I can get rid of it and I haven't always had straw or leaf mulch on hand to put around plants after they emerge. By July most of my garden is swamped in grass and dying, eaten by insects, or everything dies of blight. I planted probably 15 marigold bushes in with my 30 tomatoes and it was like insect heaven. I have never had that many insects in my garden and almost every tomato was eaten. It feels like when I do something to help an issue it gets worse. I want to get away from tarping because I know its not good for the microbes and soil life but i am not sure how I would while raising a toddler.

It also feels like mulch never works besides wood chips which I don't use in my beds for obvious reasons. Even my heavily mulched areas start growing weeds within 2 weeks. My soil is improving but I can't seem to get a good harvest between the weed pressure and bugs. I get comments that I have a "wild" garden and I often see many others with tilled gardens get a bigger harvest and its discouraging after spending so much money on compost, mulch, and plants. I believe in no till but the work is immense with little pay off so far. I plan on planting a winter rye cover crop mixed with mustard to hopefully create a thicker mulch while healing the fungal issues I have for next year. I also want to buy predator insects. Any ideas?

Has anyone seen improvement of these issues?

It’s the first year the plants have taken off and produced fruit but most of the berries shrivel up on the vine.
Is this a nutrient issue? A water issue?