Northeast Gardening: Help with hardpan dirt, 1 by Seandor

Seandor wrote:
I know I have asked this before - and the common consensus was to try and work when the dirt was wet - like after a good rain - but honestly, I have 100 daffodils to plant under some trees on the terrace (where we slaved to plant hosta this spring) - and I need some ideas.

I tried using my husband's electic drill with an attachment (sort of like a mini-auger) but I could only grind out about 15 holes and the poor drill started to seriously overheat.

Now, if I start putting on layers of compost next spring - say, 3 inches thick - and I do that every spring for a few years, and I introduce some dew worms, etc. - is there any chance that I might actually end up with reasonable soil in about 5 years?

Meanwhile - is there some sort of 'garden weasel' tool that would help me with this dirt? I mean, besides a jack hammer? Something that is reasonably affordable?

Same thing for around the fountain - I dug up some hostas and rudebeckias so I could plant two shrubs - omg- I can't believe how hard it was to dig up those plants! DH had rototilled a row that extended the garden - so that soil was already broken up, but the hosta and rudebeckia were probably planted 10 years ago, and the dirt has never been tilled since then. And next spring I plan to tear out all the hosta and rudebeckia . . .

Anyway, I am open to suggestions . . .