I begged the real estate agent to show me land that had clay... sadly, they only showed me sand.
Clay is what I desperately wanted, because it holds moisture and nutrients.
The sand that I'm in... water it, and the water just washes through it, and washes out the nutrients.
The clay that you are in can be made to grow vegetables... of course, you are unlikely to grow cool season crops like lettuce, broccoli and carrots in the summer....
I've always gardened on a budget... which means that I try to use free materials.
Of course this means... a pick-up truck is an absolute necessity... can't garden without a truck...
When I was new to the area... i spent a lot of time and effort chasing down sources of manure and wood chips.
I used to follow the woodchip truck until the driver stopped... and then beg for the chips!
Once you find one person with horses... they can usually tell you the names of several others... Eventually, you are going to find someone with a pile out back where you can back up the pick-up truck to and fill it up...
When starting a garden... it takes a LOT of organic amending!
I once did some gardening for someone that couldn't understand why I was bringing in so much horse poop to their garden....
Sometimes... people just aren't going to understand....
As you get some experience with how not to grow a garden.... I trust that you will eventually try putting into action some of the advice that you've gotten, or, try growing stuff that won't mind being planted in the undeveloped plot that you have.
In VA, y'all get better rain than I do... you actually stand a chance of getting a crop in the soil that you have... Maybe try peanuts, and Jerusalem artichokes. Maybe some corn... some beans....