JoStar37 writes:

the soil is horrible – all
claggy, sticky and lumpy. However what is worse is that past a spades
depth, I am hitting a lighter brown layer of soil which seems to be
solid clay/sandy? I am trying my very best to loosen it and dig through
it with my garden fork but I just don’t have the strength. I have no
idea what to do now. It seems to be present around half of my garden
when testing areas with my spade.

For lots of plants, one spade is deep enough.

I can't figure out what you mean by "solid clay/sandy".

Clay is soil with fine particles.
Sand has much larger particles.
Gravel is even larger.
Solid is rocks.

claggy - I think you mean muddy?

How deep is the soil damp?


--
Dan Espen