Growing in The Northern Maine woods...i need some help

i have some questions on preparing soil...in maine most of the soil is very acidic due to pine tree needles and shit like that. and usually the topsoil is very mulchy and rich..but about 5-6 inches in the ground you will find clay in most spots. i would figure clay has very poor drainage. and i know sand has very good drainage. i dont want to disturb the soil to much. so would it be effective at all to increase my drainage by adding sand over the top of my plot instead of disturbeing my soil? or should I mix it in with the loose soil after transplanting my plants to the ground, and use the sandy soil to fill in the plant holes?

just putting sand over the top of your plot isn't going to do much, so you're better off just digging your own holes, and use your own compost/soil mixture. the dirt being very acidic and clay being all over the place will stress the plants out quite a bit, but what i did was made a compost tea and top dressed my plants with a low ph compost which helped out alot. if you layer the bottom of your hole with crushed stone or just smaller round stones, this will help drainage in areas where there is more clay in the soil. It would be pretty hard to not disturb the soil too much, and still come out with quality plants. I know people that just planted in 5 gallon pots outdoors and it makes it easier to move them if you need to also. are you making one big plot, or individual holes for each plant?

I wouldn't worry about disturbing the soil because to get the best plants you really need to amend it. That means digging some big holes and replacing the original acidic soil/clay with something your plants can live on. I don't think sand is the best thing to add, either. Maybe some perlite or other growing formula.

Look up vics super soil and use those amendments to the soil or follow the recipe and fill pots or grow bags with it and use those for the plants.