What are your plans for this area?

If you don't have a compost pile, I'd strongly recommend you start one. In your climate you should be able to compost easily.

Also, check the forums here on lasagna bed gardening. It's great when you have clay soil.

I would like to grow Bell Peppers, jalepeno peppers, oinons, perhaps a few others but I'm not sure how many plants and the area of which I want to grow each of these.

I do not have a compost pile at the moment. I am reading all I need is leaves and grass?

I will check for lasagna bed gardening, thank you. I really need a solution for this stuff!

Have you read the FAQ page? I've posted the link below. You might also do a google search for square foot gardening especially if you are interested in making raised beds.

I'd recommend first learning about what composting materials may be obtained in your local area for free - leaves should be available now or soon, other people's grass clippings, used coffee grounds known as UCG to many here, livestock bedding and manure, spoiled hay, straw, vegetable trimmings from your own or other people's kitchens are some. Have a look thru Craigslist to see what others may want to get rid of that you can use. Last year we drove around our local small town and wherever people had placed bags of leaves at the curb I just asked if we could have them and soon had the pick-up full. Coffee shops often give away UCG and I've gotten literally a ton. I've also gotten trimmings from the produce depts. in grocery stores altho not all will give them away due to local laws. I also use sawdust or fine wood shavings in compost or as mulch. When I started gardening here we even tilled it in along with other amendments. I also planted a cover crop (also known as green manure) which you might do this fall after tilling to loosen the clay. Clay is often quite good soil for growing in and some plants will do well even in unamended clay. I've used field peas, vetch, and annual rye.

Lasagna gardening can work well. I did one 2 years ago and thot it was a failure as I didn't have as much depth of 'goodies' as I wanted but it's been decomposing and the soil is looking really nice. I can dig down more than a foot where there was hard clay and it's now nice and loose. I'm burying all my compost there and putting grass clippings over it so by next spring it should be pretty good soil.

I practice worm farming, not in a box but right in my garden. I do everything to encourage them by feeding them compost (both raw and decomposed), grass clippings, mulch, and alfalfa tea and try not to discourage them with synthetic chemicals. Seems to work quite well as my soil is improving every year.

It's best not to walk on clay soil, especially when it's wet so I suggest planning where you want paths and only walking there. There are many materials you can use for paths.

Here is a link that might be useful: soil FAQ page

Actually....I sort of like your idea about just laying the amendments on the top, rather than incorporating them into the clay with tilling.

I've done that a lot with what I call "barrows," long raised beds. In one case the dirt underneath was compacted gravel/dirt near a road, way too hard to do anything with, so I just put a lot of topsoil and landfill compost on top and the roses are doing great!

I agree with luckygal about establishing paths -- I use the very thick and hard-wearing black plastic in 3-foot strips and it's supposed to last forever (ha) as opposed to the sort of thin gardening fabric that deteriorates in sunlight.

What all clay soils I have seen need is lots of organic matter. Organic matter gets in between the clay soil particles and seperates them so they do not cling together as tightly which allows easier working, better drainage, easier root penetration of the soil, and releases the nutrients that can get locked onto the clay soil particles.
In Louisianna, because of warmer temperatures, the soil bacteria are more active longer during the year so you will need more organic matter then I would. These simple soil tests can help you get enough organic matter into your soil,

1. Structure. From that soil sample put enough of the rest to make a 4 inch level in a clear 1 quart jar, with a tight fitting lid. Fill that jar with water and replace the lid, tightly. Shake the jar vigorously and then let it stand for 24 hours. Your soil will settle out according to soil particle size and weight. For example, a good loam will have about 1-3/4 inch (about 45%) of sand on the bottom. about 1 inch (about 25%) of silt next, about 1 inch (25%) of clay above that, and about 1/4 inch (about 5%) of organic matter on the top.

2) Drainage. Dig a hole 1 foot square and 1 foot deep and fill that with water. After that water drains away refill the hole with more water and time how long it takes that to drain away. Anything less than 2 hours and your soil drainsâ too quickly and needs more organic matter to slow that drainage down. Anything over 6 hours and the soil drains too slowly and needs lots of organic matter to speed it up.

3) Tilth. Take a handful of your slightly damp soil and squeeze it tightly. When the pressure is released the soil should hold together in that clump, but when poked with a finger that clump should fall apart.

4) Smell. What does your soil smell like? A pleasant, rich earthy odor? Putrid, offensive, repugnant odor? The more organic matter in your soil the more active the soil bacteria will be and the nicer your soil will smell.

5) Life. How many earthworms per shovel full were there? 5 or more indicates a pretty healthy soil. Fewer than 5, according to the Natural Resources Conservation Service, indicates a soil that is not healthy.

There is so much effort involved in successfully amending clay soil with compost, that you might be better off if you scaled down the size of your garden. You might put all of your effort into working compost, peat moss, or leaf mold into a 10 by 12 foot plot, to a depth of 10 inches or so. That will give you immediate results, and you will be able to see some success in gardening this plot. Our garden plot is 8 by 20 feet, and the soil is nice to work with, but it took us 15 years to get where we are today.