Don't worry about the maple saplings. They'll die as soon as you mow the first time. Until then, they won't do much harm (maybe use a little water and sun that your new grass would like).

Dove weed has deep tough roots. It is almost impossible to pull it and get all of it out. Use a shovel and dig up it's roots. Use a pre emergent Fall and Spring. Make sure the label says for St Augustine lawns. It can take 2 years to see a big improvement. Have your soil tested at the Ag Center.

The only way to control these in a native plant habitat is mechanical cultivation (hand picking) because any spray product, or other type of "weed" killer you use will also kill the native pklants you have.

My husband and I tend just over 2 acres of garden ourselves. Now its not solid vegetables there are wide paths between the sections that we mow, which helps for access and runoff control since it is on the edge of the driftless region and everything is a hill. But it is still a lot for 2 people. I cut it down from 80 tomato plants to just 35 this year since I don't need to preserve, but still have almost 70 zucchini since I sell them. Just to give you a couple example of the scope of our area. We also have perennials like asparagus, rhubarb, walking onions and a few apple trees. We give a lot of stuff away, just today I took in 2 buss tubs full of fresh cukes and a giant bundle of dill to my part-time work place for my co-workers. We both have full time jobs (I also have a part time one) but are out there every night after work until dark and full days most weekends. The secret.... hard work and lots of hay mulch. We also use landscape fabric under things like tomatoes, zucchini and peppers which is great, but don't expect it to last for more than one year. Weed wackers can do more damage as you mention if you are going close to plants but can be helpful around the edges of garden. You should expect to carefully use a hoe or hand pull weeds closest to the plants themselves and you can lay down a THICK layer of hay. Hay works well for long-season veggies, but is more of a pain around radishes, lettuce, peas and other short lived plants. It can also cause things like cabbages to rot by keeping too much moisture under them, especially this year. The Eden Garden looks interesting for smaller operations, however I would never consider wood chips around non-perennial plants. I till organic material (neighbors composted cow poop) into my garden areas every spring, and wood doesn't break down fast enough to till it into my ground, hay/straw does. Even if I didn't till I still use a rotation plan to help control disease etc. Having to pull back wood chips every season in order to plant seeds, plants, etc would drive me batty. I have also read that wood chips can tie up the available nitrogen in the top level of the soil, and because of this they are not the best option for mulch around annual plantings. Good luck on your garden!