Same here! I'm usually scratching for both compost and mulch so it depends on what is needed worse, haha.
First, I use a spade and just turn the soil over at about the depth of the shovel. I used to rip the sod off but now I just turn it over and let it die off for a few days.
After it sits for a while I run a little Mantis over the top of it. I usually give that a couple of weeks and then add compost and hit it with the Mantis again. It takes a lot of work out of it, really. If I need to make a smaller bed quickly, I'll still rip the sod off just to make it all go faster.
After a bed is done, I do even less.
For established beds like the tomatoes, etc. I pile compost on top of them about 3-4 weeks before planting. Right before plant out, I turn it in a little with the mantis which breaks up the first 4 or so inches of soil and combines it with the compost.
That gives me enough to scrape the top layer of soil into a hill or hilled row for planting and the plant is planted in the loose soil and just grows down into the soil below which has been worked over by earthworms, etc.
Seems to always work well. I guess it would be considered some type of minimal tilling.
If I had tons of compost and mulch to keep the weeds choked out, I'd do even less work!
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