I don’t like to cut long furrows in the ground cover, because it lasts for years. I put down a 10’ wide one 6 years ago and it is still good, then I put down two 15’ ones two years ago. I rotate the crops so that the same thing is not planted in the same hole for 3 years. Broccoli loves it and as you can see, tomatoes, peppers and swiss chard too.
Only problem is that you can’t get much organic matter under it once it is laid. This forces me to use chemical fertilizer sprinkled on the cover where it dissolves and trickles through the mesh. (it is a woven poly) But it works great. Looks like the oldest strip will be good for a couple more years, then I will take it up and work in lots of compost/manure.
Our garden is not huge but I actually raked up the broken down and rotted straw and picked up the landscape fabric.
For the garden, the strips are about 2 feet wide and 10 feet long so they’re manageable for picking up and putting down every year. Being able to roto-till in the fertilizer helps keep the crops from depleting the soil but I do rotate the crops anyway.
In 2009 I bought a huge load of mulch and laid about half the roll of landscape fabric around the foundation of our house and covered it with the mulch and it made maintenance around the house SOOOO much easier. And it looks MUCH better without the weeds all over the place. I’ll have to get a small load this year and top dress it just to have it look nicer.