My soil is also "clay with weeds on top", but somehow the weeds manage to grow, so I'm not losing hope. I'm digging it up, mixing with peat+manure+last year's grass clippings, and hoping for the best. It helps to have a neighbor sell bullshit by the ton. My Mrs., on the other hand, would prefer to buy planting soil by the truckload.

A late frost eated almost all my apples, bell peppers, and whatnot, this year - everything that wasn't covered. What was covered, though, survived fine. You can make a basic greenhouse-like thing out of bent sticks and some translucent fabric or plastic. It needn't be clear.

As for watering - get a drip-feed system, the basic ones cost sth like 50€ here. Hook it up to a tank placed high, and add a timer, or just set up alarm clock to open it every day for 10 minutes. It's so much comfier than dragging around hoses or cans. For bonus points, get rain catchment tanks and install them high. Your plants will grow better when watered with warm water.