Hey there guys,
I am hoping someone can give me a bit of advice on very dry soil. We have just moved into a rented accomodation with a garden, which I've always wanted.

When we moved in, it was overgrown with shrubs and weeds and have taken most of them out now leaving just a few tall shrubs and trailing roses.

Now, the problem is, before I plant any new shrubs and border plants, I want to make sure the soil is okay to plant in. As it was so neglected, there are many hard roots left in the soil from, what I call 'cauliflour shrubs' - the leaves looked like cauliflour leaves, it also has glass and stones in it like all other neglected gardens.
The soil is very dry and clumpy and I'm unsure how to rectify it.
I was thinking about just throwing compost on top of it and throwing in the plant food pellets, but I wanted most of the stones/glass out before I did that, or would it just be easier to take off the top layer (with all the rubbish on it) THEN put compost down... any cheap fixes out there? As the title says, I'm new to gardening but really want the beds to be the best they can before I spend loads of money on plants.

Any advice would be absolutely wonderful

Thanks in advance,
Sheralynne