No overnight fixes, but definitely a fixable problem. Clay here too, and the following works beautifully. My soil is much more workable, drainage greatly improved, and I still continue to top dress with compost Spring, and again after Fall cleanup. I don't have room to make enough of my own, but budget for buying it each year...

Here is a link that might be useful: Amending clay

that's not just clay- that's shale.

sorry you had to move into our neck of the woods- but all the topsoil's down in the valleys, and everything above that- it a combination of clay and rock.'

you should have left the boo- it does a great job of breaking up the soil when nothing else will...

but since you're at square one again...

do one bed at a time. trust me- it's all a human can handle at once.

till the soil. remove all that broken up soil (drop it on a tarp for later) then till it again. spready 3-4 " of organic matter (anything. old leaves. shredded junk mail. coffee grounds. rice hulls if you can find them. triple-ground mulch) and till that into the soil.

if you're feeling REALLY serious, at this point, screen all rocks larger than 1/2" out of the piled-up dirt, then spread HALF of it back over the amended bed, add a bag of perlite or such- and till one last time.

the bed should at this point be higher than ground-level...

voila. instant raised bed. now- plant stuff in it!

if you can't m ake a whole bed- sow it with wheat or vetch, mow it in a month- and till the greens into the earth...
repeat as long as your patience holds.

I'm back, I just completed my soil test, and found out that its not so bad, my soil type is clay loam. Thanks to everyone who responded, I plan on amending the soil with organic compost at the least, then I will till.

One quick tip Deb......Do you have any horse lovers around there? I find that the manure works great. It's usually mixed with sawdust on the stall floors, which makes your soil really fluffy. Most farmers will give it to you for nothing, as long as you dig it and haul it away.
Shiza

Lots and lots of organic matter will turn clay into nice garden loam.
A rear tine tiller can really help.

Animal manure is great, but it's heavy, smelly and unless you have your own, can be tough to transport and spread. Green manures can be grown and tilled in to improve your tilth. There are many, but I prefer buckwheat. It grows quickly, chokes out weeds and tills in nicely.
Compost is great, when you can't till in wastes directly.
You should always have a pile in waiting of green waste near the garden...or better still in a corner of the garden itself.
Fall leaves are natures free fertilizer. Ever dig around in a forest floor and you know the loam of that soil.
Get all the leaves you can tilled into your soil.

Mulch, mulch, mulch. Try and keep your soil covered with organic matter (living or decaying) most of the time.

The biggest tool in soil improvement is patience - the structure of your soil evolved over counteless years and you can change it overnight, unless you bring it in from somwhere else! But with sound organic practices, you can make great gains in a couple of seasons.

Good luck and happy soil building.

Shiza--
I am interested in how using horse manure worked for you.
I have several bags of aged stuff under my deck.
I was going to mix it in the gardens , however I heard that if I did that I would most likely get alot of weeds, some that I most likely have never had before.
Did you experience that?
I suppose I could use Preen in the area I use the manure..
Let me know how it went for you?

Weed seeds in horse manure depends on 2 things: 1. What was the horse fed. If stabled and fed alfalfa hay only there will be very little if any weed seeds. 2. Composting will kill seeds. RoseB if you are worried about weed seeds put the bags in the sun and turn over every 3 days for 2 weeks and the seeds will get sterilized.

The easist way I have used to amend clay is in the fall till lightly then put down 3-4 inches of manure and mix with straw and alfalfa hay. Rake or lightly till together and leave for the winter. Come spring lots of worms and nice workable soil.

Preen is not helpful, because it won't kill weed seeds. It only stops them from germinating for 3 months and then they come back. Over time you have to therefore add more and more Preen, eventually you will see damage to other near by plants or lawns. If Preen actually killed the weed seeds it would be worth a one time shot (maybe), but it only delays the problem you have deal with later. You should only use Preen where you don't want any plants to ever grown again ever. And Preen is very expensive, you have a buy a huge container, they must make a killing on that stuff.