IMPE, the main problem with hand-weeding an 8 foot by 50 foot bed (I did a 5x50 myself once) is that there's way too much in one bed - and the middle is hard to reach. I have re-bedded and shrunk my bed size twice since then.
I'd start with digging 18-24" wide right down the middle, and put in a path there. Now you have two 3 or 3-1/2 foot by 50 foot beds, and you can actually reach the middle of the beds from the paths. Next, divide each 50 foot long bed into 8 to 12 beds - you can just use "lawn edging plastic" if you want to keep the maximum amount of dirt, or you can break it up more with additional cross-paths, or take over more total area but add paths to break it up more but maintain the planting area too.
NOW you have beds of a manageable size, 3-1/2 x 8 feet at the biggest, and you can go out and weed ONE of those, completely, in a reasonable time. Just keep doing that. So long as you keep weeding and never leave a bed so long that the weeds can go to seed, this will work. The more you do it, the faster it gets, because there will be fewer and smaller weeds each time.
I found that I could NOT work a huge bed the same way, precisely because it's huge. Having a defined area with hard edges makes a huge difference.
It's also easier to do things like "solarizing" a bed (cover with plastic to cook pernicious weeds) if it's not the whole garden at once.
Car tire planters have the advantage (per my findings) of having limited area. However, if your wife considers them an immutable eyesore, that's clearly not going to fly. I recall people painting them, and cutting one sidewall/bead, then turning the tire inside out, either or both being considered "a appearance improvement" by people offended by black tires with the tread showing. Your wife may not be convinced, but it might be worth a try.