Last year I started my garden. I removed the sod from two 15'x4' areas. I dug down about 8" (as far as i could get down with a decent spade) and tried to loosen up the soil. Its very grey and clayish so i essentially carved out a spadefull and then chopped at it with the spade to cut it into smaller chunks. It rained soon after and the entire thing turned into a very sticky mush. I then had a cubic yard of dirt delivered which i spread out of the two plots. Any of the grey mud which was visible to the surface and dried out turned into completely dry, hard, grey chunks that were essentially rocks. That cubic yard only provided a couple inches of nice soil on top of the clay stuff. Things still grew suprisingly well. As long as the grey stuff stays covered it doesn't dry out and carrots seemed to have no trouble growing into it. I'm sure they would do better with looser soil but i can't complain.
I'm wondering what to do this year. My ideal option would be to completely remove that top 8" of grey and fill everything up with many more cubic yards of topsoil. However this year i no longer have direct access for the soil guys to drive up and dump the bag right by my garden. i'd have to treck it from the front by wheelbarrow, my garden is over 200 feet from the driveway, and i'd have to go around a neighbour since i'm actually in a townhouse. Not going to happen.
I do plan on bringing in a few smaller bags of dirt and compost by hand, My main question is if i should attempt to mix them in with the grey stuff or just building good stuff up on top? After settling, the soil level was pretty much even with the surrounding grass so i can still pile a lot more on top before it becomes a problem. A small attempt at mixing last year didn't work well at all. Either the grey stuff just stayed together in relativly dry chunks or it was complete wet mush and the topsoil just floated on it. In the end it resulted in many grey chunks/globs drying out on top.
Any suggestions/oppinions appreciated.