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There's a really important thing to note here - your title is confusing people. It says "heavy clay soil".

Later you say it's "clay like". But you got a load of cheap top soil, I assume?

In that case it's simply clay-like, it's not clay. It's just dense. That's a huge difference.

Soil compaction is going to happen in any bed that goes unused (no roots to aerate) and will slowly increase with time. You just have dense soil. Did you loosen the area around the root ball when you transplanted? If so, the roots should get established easily. Dense soil really isn't all that terrible of a problem- there may be other issues afoot. Roots can pretty easily go through dense soil. It's more about what's in the soil, and the moisture content, that's going to have a big effect on them.

Beyond that, what you need to do is simply improve soil structure. There are tons of ways to do this, but check out this article and this site as well.

Basically, add organic matter. Compost. For now, you can top dress. Make sure the ground stays the proper moisture level (get a $10 moisture meter if you want to be doubly sure) and roots and earthworms will aerate it. More plants and more roots will help. If it's super compact, you can mechanically disturb the soil, but actually people are shying away from this now due to more research showing undisturbed soil has healthier microbial life, and roots don't mind moderately-dense soil. Still, if it's crazy hard, you can get a small tiller (I used this one ) on both my actual clay soil, and to mix in compost. You can of course just use a regular hand cultivator tool if you want to save some $.

As far as cover crops go, that is a pretty good idea- check out this podcast: https://joegardener.com/podcast/100-understanding-cover-crops-the-basics-and-beyond-with-jack-algiere/ .

I'll also note that adding sand is a terrible idea. That's a weird myth floating around, a quick google search will reveal this.

I have squash and cucumbers in my other raised bed. In my previous experience, the squash ended up taking waaaay more real estate than I planned for originally. They ended up all over each other and toward the end of the season, I lost a some of them to powdery mildew. I also had some issues with blossom end rot, but I'm not sure if that was due to the overcrowding or possibly a soil nutrient issue. Lesson learned. This time I'm giving them plenty of space, and planting them close enough to the edge of the bed so they can hang over the edge and spread if they feel like it.

I did have a good bit of success with my cucumbers, using a trellis. I installed a wooden folding trellis like this but larger with cucumbers at the base on both sides. With a little training, they climbed up one side and down the other without overtaking each other. I was happy with the yield and ended up giving everyone in my family a jar or two of pickles for Christmas!

I'm not familiar with growing pumpkin so I'm not sure about that. But you can buy these for the tomatoes and jalapenos: 247Garden 5-Pack 15 Gallon Grow Bags/Aeration Fabric Pots w/Handles (Black) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B013JFHMQ2/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_o8W0Cb3CCPTGM

15 gal would be a good size for tomatoes, and 5 or 10 gal for peppers (I'm not sure on size for peppers, I hope someone who knows can confirm a good size in this post).

I'm also not familiar with spinach, but if they are able to grow in rather shallow containers (like 6 inches in height), then you can find cheap rectangular planters at the dollar store. They also have round pots that are up to 12" in height. If you go to their baskets section, you can find bigger containers. Just be sure to drill or poke holes at the bottom. Hope that helps!

If you want to breed veggies you want to breed sth. that you personally like eating (because you will need to taste all the trial grow outs), or sth. that doesn't exist yet.I grow dwarf tomatoes for window boxes and urban gardening that do not exist in Germany yet, black ones with old school flavours etc. The available varieties have little to no taste. In the US there are such varieties but not here. I also try to grow my own Pak Choi variety, a large green one that is hardy to both heat and very low temperatures, so I can grow it almost all season. Pak Choi is very expensive around here, and so I want to create a nice variety for the home gardener. I do some corn and potato breeding aswell, but this needs too much space, I am very limited at the moment.Secondly there are plants that are easier to breed than others. Or that need a higher number of individuals and thus much more space. The easiest plants to breed are such that are self-fertile and do not show inbreeding depression. Tomatoes and Chillies for example. Because if you want to stabilize a variety you need to make all your plants look the same, have the same genes. The fastest way to achieve this is by pollinating the plants with themselves, grow out the seeds, select what your looking for, take the self-pollinated seeds from this plant, grow them out again , select again... and so on. With every generation the traits become more and more stable, all the seeds from these plants look more and more alike. Corn for example is more difficult, because they quite quickly suffer from inbreeding depression. In other words, if you pollinate the plant with itself too much, or you just have too few plants to cross it with (a small gene pool) then the plants basically go retarded, their growth stunts, the fruit do not develop properly, they get sick. So here you need a higher number of individuals because they need to be outcrossed, somewhere between 100 and 500 individual plants, so this would need a small field already. Also, you would need to control pollination with bags and such, so they do not pollinate themselves, or get pollinated by plants from a field nearby that would destroy your efforts.

Another thing that can give you quick results are plants who are usually propagated by clones. Things you do not multiply from seed. Strawberries or potatoes for example. For example, If you want to make your own potato variety then, all you need to find are two compatible potatoe varieties that can produce viable seeds (many varieties have lost this ability) then you grow them into plants, and then you can plant the resulting small tubers for another generation and taste test them. If by chance, and there is large variability in potatoes because most are tetraploid, you created a variety that you really like then you do not need to stabilize the variety at all, just plant and multiply the potatoe tubers. They are literally clones of your first plant.

So yeah, there is alot to read about selection methods, pollination tactics, genetics... I heard good things about a book I might buy myself one day called "Breed Your Own Vegetable Varieties: The Gardener's and Farmer's Guide to Plant Breeding and Seed Saving, 2nd Edition" by Carol Deppe" , that's a good start I think. Other than that just pick sth. you like and find out how it is being bred professionally, all plants have their unique quirks and need different strategies to be bred.

I just got these, and they've worked great for starting fall stuff(still too hot to seed them outside where I live) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00WDJFQUK/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

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I just zip tied them to a cheap wire shelf https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CL9204C/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 , all my greens/lettuce/peas etc came up great with it.

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Only have 2 lights in it atm, but it honestly feels like plenty to get started.

I use two things. One of them is deer netting which I cut a length of and use zip ties to attach to short bamboo posts (you can order them online for pretty cheap). It's actually almost invisible from a distance so it doesn't look bad. The only thing is it tangles easily so be really careful when you're putting it up. The holes are small enough to keep squirrels and small animals out.

The other thing I use is a spray. I've had really good results with Liquid Fence which is safe for vegetable gardens. I found that if I'm really diligent about spraying on a regular basis at the start of the season I can train the deer and other critters to think my tomatoes and other container plants are not things they're interested in.

Have you just drilled holes for water, or have you actually added in drip irrigation heads? The heads will help prevent oddities in water pressure and will better regulate everything. You can even pair them with 1/4 tubing and couplings to get the water where you want it to go. In my experience, the heads are better than the soaker hoses.

The Vegetable Gardener's Bible, 2nd Edition: Discover Ed's High-Yield W-O-R-D System for All North American Gardening Regions: Wide Rows, Organic Methods, Raised Beds, Deep Soil https://www.amazon.com/dp/160342475X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_vyl7Cb55Z3W69

I’m a new gardener. I love this book. Full of pictures, tips and easy to read format to look up what you want to read about

This system from Rain Bird lets you put the water where you want it. Put the supply hose between the source and the target then connect the dripper where you want the water. Pair this with something like the timer that /u/kittenplusplus shared and you're good to go.

We have a greenhouse window on a West facing side of our house.

The lamps are these from Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B072HNNSFZ/ref=oh_aui_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

The natural sunlight combined with the LED lamps appear to provide enough volume of light for most plants. Those that like more light (sunflowers, okra) I keep closer to the LEDs.

I got these:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LX0JBUU/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

If you don't mind waiting (or maybe for your next round?), these ones are awesome for starters.

It’s a mix of a bunch of stuff - but all those are in it. I actually bought it on amazon - here’s the link if you are interested.

Garden Cover Crop Mix Seeds -... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XSNSJ92?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

I would go with anything labeled Daylight. That's what I've been using and it works out well. I also got these https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B06XP8F42M?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_pd_title recently and they are putting my lavender babies way ahead of schedule atm, they get all the light :)

I got this and it’s pretty good for $30

All LED and no heat

Edit:

https://www.amazon.com/Roleadro-Greenhouse-Hydroponic-Vegetative-Flowering/dp/B07CVTJLD8

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With low covers and a small hoop house you can grow spinach all winter long.

I love this book https://www.amazon.com/Winter-Harvest-Handbook-Deep-Organic-Greenhouses/dp/1603580816/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1473282231&sr=8-1&keywords=eliot+coleman

I would wait. I read that holding off just a bit longer for peppers is usually better for them. Source: Growing Vegetables West of the Cascades. https://www.amazon.ca/Growing-Vegetables-West-Cascades-6th/dp/1570615349
Edit: I am in the Lower Mainland