Beginner Gardening: Can I till this close to tree?, 1 by erdooley

erdooley wrote:
Hello! I'm not sure if this is the right board to post my question, but I didn't get much response in Garden Design. I have this problem area I need to work on this fall. I've been unable to get anything to thrive here, so I'm pretty sure I need to just amend the soil. It doens't have much clay, but the soil seems very hard. Consequently the little amount of rain we get doesn't even soak in. I'm thinking of putting some heuchera or ajuga in this area. But my main concern is tilling the area because it's around a fringe tree. I'm worried about hurting the roots. I don't plan on planting anything right up against the tree trunk of course, but starting about 4-5 feet from the trunk, all the way to the grass. Does anyone know how I should go about amending the soil in this area? Please, not by hand! Thanks for any help!