Sorry you've not had an answer. I'd tackle the cloth on my knees with a bucket to hold top debris and scissors to cut away portions of the cloth.

If the orig. soil is rock hard get a trowel and work off the top 2 inches. My friend complained of her clay soil and when I dug in it I told her she didn't know what real clay soil was. My problem was if I added enuf organic material to make it friable, it would rise up at least 3 inches! Patiently I dumped a bucket each week. When the level was down I added 1/2 inch aged manure and 1 inch of composted organic material. When that was dug into the top 8-10 inches the level was elevated. (It really does need to be dug in.) Decomposition over the year reduced it again. More compost each year. Ask around for an eager 10 year old who wants to earn some money to do your digging.

Vegetables need sun and with western exposure you will probably have 8 hrs. in May. We plant tomatoes, corn, beans, zucchini (takes room), eggplant and peppers for summer crops. Basil and cilantro for annual herbs.

After the digging in of amendments (manure, etc.) is done, you can add worms if there are none. Ask at nurseries where to find them.

I'd remove the cloth, as recommended above, and add a bag of composted manure from a garden center. Are you planning to remove the plants that are there? If you haven't been there during a summer, I'd suggest keeping what is there and just trying to control the weeds. Ornamental grasses can be quite a challenge to remove--they can have very deep, tough roots. Also, there may be other plants that come up in spring, like bulbs, that you aren't aware of. Then, again, if you don't plan to be in this apartment forever, it's hard to wait a full year to start making it the way you would most enjoy it. Good luck.

Martha