[daniel1212]

We have a couple inches of half-decent topsoil (mostly long-broken down hickory leaves & debris), then orange-ish clay nearly impervious to water, then 18” - 24” down there is a few inch layer of smelly, grey, REALLY impervious to water, clay, then it’s back to the orange stuff until you hit gravel / sand / rock 20+ feet down.

Wow, "Break up the fallow ground" comes to mind but with that "soil" breaking up is both harder and leave much to be desired. Sounds like a truck load of manure, gravel, and topsoil (the latter is just $2 for 40 lbs here) could help.

How large is your plot?

[Paul R.]

How large is your plot?

Not too big - around 330 sq. ft., not including flower beds in front of the house (those drain ok) and an area I abandoned due to a big walnut tree growing up beside it.

A truckload would be about right...