I have been trying to get a garden going since last year, when the gardening bug bit me. I've got some intrepid plants making a valiant effort, but I think my soil is making it hard for them to flourish. When we were digging out the basement floor a few years ago, we spread quite a bit of clay over the yard, not realizing it would come back to haunt my gardening attempts later on. I also spread cedar shavings over the areas I dug up for my plants, to try to control the weeds. So now I have good earth, with a layer of clay over it, and cedar shavings over THAT. I'm trying to "revive" the good earth, so my plants have a better chance of doing well. Would just turning the soil regularly (mixing all 3 layers together) help? Or would that just give the weeds a chance to take over?

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated!