This is what our soil looks like -- it's very clay -- which is good in that it has lots of nutrients, but bad in that it has very poor drainage. So the long term solution is to incorporate grit and other things into the soil and then eventually we will just be able to have beds in the ground and the soil will have been improved dramatically -- but, in the short term, we are buiding raised beds and putting better quality soil (purchased) in them so that we can get started growing things right away. In the long term the raised beds will also be useful as they provide a more sheltered growing environment than putting things directly in the ground.