Three words...

Lots of Gypsum

No, you're not alone hon. I've found a pick (pict? hee) axe to be my best bet for many things. For totally new beds, I definitely use it - because I find I have better results in removing roots of existing weeds/grass/whatever rather than severing them and having to re-dig to try and get them all up and inevitably not getting them all and them coming backand by the time I've gotten through an area, I've also turned the soil a lot better than if I had been using a shovel. It only took me 30+ years to figure out it was a better tool choice than I gave it credit for. I could almost retire my shovels at this point. :)

HotH

the little tidbit about soaking the ground an hour before digging is *definitely* a winning strategy, by the way... found that one out a couple weeks ago.

I'm new to clay...coming from Florida. My absolutely most used garden-creation tool is the pick-ax.

Soaking the ground is a great way of making it shovel-able, but then you are messing around with sticky-yet-slippery wet clay.

The pick ax can often club right through roots as well.

My first tools were a couple of shovels last year. When I tried to dig for the first time, I thought, "OK... I guess I won't have a garden after all!". It rained, and I discovered the wonders of easily dug wet clay. Then I discovered the pick ax.

I prefer messing with the dry clay. Once it's churned up by the pick ax, it's easier to bust up and mix with soil amendments.

The word of the day is Mattock. Comes in at least two sizes. Would be a good weapon in a murder mystery.
Can break that material we call soil.

And at least another week before we get rain.

I find that on a sunny day, an hour after soaking the ground it's dry but workable and an hour later it's back to it's semi-petrified state.

It was quite the shock for me, coming from Michigan where the only clay I ever saw was dark gray or black and even in the middle of the worst drought would make a soft, slurping sound as the shovel easily slid down into it.

I also found that if you use a tiller of any sort you need to purchase / change out the blades to be the "rock-friendly" orientation or you WILL get it all jammed to hell... lol

ok, ok, i'm sure I sound like a broken record at this point.

Ah, another word for the garden vocabulary then... .Pulaski.... :) Not just what forest firefighters use and not just the town in Giles county that is the "home town"/"providence" of the KKK, some Civil War history, etc.

My second favourite tool (at least "full sized tools" rather than smaller "hand tools") is the Sharpshooter/Sharp Shooter/Sharp-shooter shovel.

The pick-axe still wins for versatility though - I can't break up a rock with a shovel (and risk screwing up the shovel's edge or worse) like I can with a pick-axe, even when the rocks 50% of the time are just ancient clay/sediment. 30% of the time it is a different type - and I'm sorry, physical science recall has just blown a raspberry at me - I can't remember the scientific classification/name of the type of stone that turns up, it's commonly in "creek gravel" though and is easier to pull out than try to break up... and the other 20% of the time it's a mix of other types (of stone/rock).

But yea, a pick-axe to initiate... a sharp shooter to insure the depth... followed by a hoe to break things up finer... and I think most of us with clay would preach AMENDMENTS AMENDMENTS AMENDMENTS until the sun goes down and start again at dawn. Sometimes amending clay soil though can seem like a losing battle. Unlike other soil-types, and depending upon the clay itself, it can seem to take "forever" or so many repeated amending episodes that it seems like it's never going to be "good" soil much more "ideal"...

Hmmm... hoe vs. spade?

Have no problems with tough soil around here,just send my wife out there.
Lazy Norm
PS she won't be picking on me.

Norm... if my husband gardened, he'd probably say just such a thing himself. With that in mind, if he did say such a thing, I'd probably find myself thinking, "That soil won't be nearly as tough once he's composted in it."

Of course, to all young suitors of our twin daughters that turn "sweet 16" this year, I make it quite clear when it comes to inappropriate advances or potential heartbreak, "I HAVE five acres AND a shovel." ;)