We got a half plot in February so are new to this. Had a fair bit of couch grass to deal with so used a fork to dig down and get roots out and as many other roots as possible. Then used a hoe to break down the lumps. Towards the end I bought a Wolf soil miller which is good for breaking down lumps. Using a rotivator with the couch grass wasn't an option as it would have just chopped up the couch roots and given us lots more couch grass.
It will probably be really hard to dig at the moment as the ground is so dry. I haven't finished ours completely yet but it is all looking cultivated as have chucked down weed membrane over the last undug bit and planted pumpkins through it.
We don't have any water on our site so things only get a bit of water when planted and that's their lot. It has been interesting to see that actually things can survive without water and it has cut down a lot on the work. It takes me about half an hour to hoe out the new weeds which I do once or twice a week ( couch grass, bind weed and marestail) then at the moment it is just harvesting which is the good bit. I go two to three times a week.
So this year we have had broad beans, peas, lettuce, carrots, spuds, garlic, red onions, courgettes, yellow squash, cucumbers, rainbow chard, runner beans, gooseberries, rhubarb, raspberries, spinach.
We're waiting for pumpkins, sweetcorn, beetroot, chilli's , French beans and I'm really pleased how well things have done despite lack of water. Good luck, hope you enjoy it as much as I have.