Please help plan my fall/spring soil plan

[Carriehelene]

So I'm looking ahead towards fall. My 4000 square foot garden is mostly sandy. The veggies do alright, but the soils Eco system is very poor. Not many worms, or bug life. There used to be a decent Eco system in there, but over the last 3 years, we've pretty much wiped that out thru tilling, religious weeding, etc. So it's time to start correcting that.

My plan is, spreading horse manure, shredding the leaves from our trees and adding them also, then planting annual ryegrass as a cover crop. Then in the spring, I'm thinking Redbaron laying down cardboard and hay, and just plant my transplants right thru it.

Still working out how to do the areas where direct seeding will happen.

So how's my plan looking so far? Will this work? It's all just so confusing lol.