Gardening advice for a complete beginner!!

[Stressedoutaboutinlaws]

So moved in with dp at the start of the summer, and we have a garden, its the first time ive lived in a house with a garden that requires maintanance so trying my best...

Issue i have is that i dont think the soil doesnt look 'right'?? It looks really light and dry, even if its watered. It never seems to look like the moist soil i imagine it should look like

Ive attached pics, any advice on how to fix??

It might be really clay soil.
I bought a load of topsoil and bags of soil from the garden centre. Then I put blood and sweat into the hole before mixing it all in with a big fork and watering like crazy.
It's a pain but it's been three years now and apart from the odd remix (our garden is windy) it's been OK.

Or if you don't fancy the back breaking work, you could use no-dig methods to improve the soil and get it ready for next year.
You would basically year the soil surface like a compost heap, so layer the bare soil with grass clippings, kitchen compost, soft green leafy waste (even cut nettles) cardboard and a load of nice straw based manure if you know anyone with horses. Over the winter, all this will break down and the nutrients will be taken back down into the soil, ready for your plants next year.

I thought clay soil too, you could as above try to improve the soil, or just plant clay soil loving plants or put membrane down, then stones/slate and use plant pots.

Manure manure manure.

For god’s sake don’t put membrane down - the weeds eventually break through anyway and then you’re left with a horrible mess of plastic fibres entangled with weed roots, in addition to poor soil.

Yup really impoverished soil. Put down anything called ‘soil improver’, not multipurpose compost, plenty of it, and over time the soil will improve.

As Tatyr says, there is a YouTube channel called Charles Dowding no dig who demonstrates no dig methods for flowers and vegetables. I've learned loads for how to look after plants and grow nice vegetables and it's nice to watch someone show you how to do it.

Thank you!! Glad to know my instincts were right and it shouldnt look like that...😂

Will go get soil improver tomorrow, along with a trowel/fork to get rid of all the weeds....

Should i be trying to break it up as much as possible?