As for the hard pan, another option would be to plant something like this...http://www.tillageradish.com/benefits.php It has large deep taproot the will penetrate the hard pan. They are also very palatable P.S. I'm a Senior at OSU majoring in Plant and soil science and have worked with these.
looks promising. if i get any kind of decent results this year i'm going to try some other options. i have been looking at plots for years but had no way of getting the ground broke up. this year i said wat the heck and tried. now i'm kicking myself for not doing something sooner.