You have experienced the horrors of weed barriers. Sadly, the only way to begin correcting things is to remove all the weed barrier first no matter what Herculean effort it may take. Perhaps use a flat nosed spade or half-moon sod cutter under the fabric to try and lift it similar to sod cutting.

tj

Unfortunately, removing the weed barrier is the best idea. One of the reasons the soil is rock-hard is that it's been denied proper gas exchange due to the weed barrier. Take it slow, but...it has to go for best use.

Yes, they say they breathe. A lot of advertising is untrue.

I don't read soil tests any longer. I'm not making an exception here, I'm merely discussing one small point.

After that, one reason your soil is tight is that your calcium-magnesium balance is off. There's no real way to fix that since your pH is already high and I don't recommend adding more calcium in any form. Somebody's going to recommend adding garden sulfur; don't. Just...don't. Unless dug in, it's not as effective (surface applied, sulfur is partially lost to the atmosphere as sulfur dioxide, or smog, which nobody wants).

Dug in, it'll take a while to react, and will react with the calcium a bit more than the magnesium, making the ratio even worse. Nor can you add enough to reduce your pH of 8 to anything reasonable without rendering the soil toxic.

Fortunately, a pH of 8 will grow a lot of very nice plants that will happily adjust, but I wouldn't plan on a lot of evergreen shrubs. :-)

Unfortunately, I was advised by someone when I was a new gardener, to lay weed paper in some of the beds. Yikes!! What a mistake! Myself and my garden assistant have been cutting and pulling since. Now, many many years later, I am considering pulling out the front arborvitae which are so overgrown the weed paper is tangled into the roots. The only way the paper is coming out at my house is for professionals to do it. I am too old to be yanking anything out. If you can afford, hire someone to help. OR have a party, gather friends and family and get to work. Good luck!

debra

I wish every new gardener could see your post and learn about the mistake they are making when they lay weed fabric. Never never lay weed fabric or plastic. No matter what the merchandisers say.

If I were the OP, I’d find a nice strong lad or two and pay them to tear up and remove every last shred of fabric/plastic. Money well spent.