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Your word choice of "end up with" is confusing me as to the temporal order of your sentences.

Agreed!

I believe they mean something like “Oftentimes, X happens, and I end up with a barren patch…”

> I've done this a dozen or more times now.

What is "this" ? The article ended with a list of 9 things that apepar to have worked.

> I till about top 6 inches of soil, amend it with a mixture of compost, chicken manure, cow manure, green matter/waste, peat moss and a little sand in case of clay.

"Elizabeth", in TFA, did the same, but noted that the plants could not grow roots into the hardpan layer below the mixture. I suspect the same was likely true of your effort.

Did this improve the hard clay underneath or did you just add enough soil on top for things to grow?