Anything will help. Just don't leave it bare. You can spread out the chopped up leaves - or at least some of them - for a mulch and let them compost in place. You can use the buckwheat and alfalfa seeds too. It's late but they might still come up and even if they don't they sure won't hurt anything. Cover it with straw or hay or whatever you can get. Dave

Too cold, except I did pull up all my garpe vines. Cant enjoy them as they are too high in potassium and always seem to get leaf fungus. One less thing to infest the garden I say. Pulled up the heavy steal pipes my dad drove into the ground to act as trellises too. Planted some shallots in that location now. Haven't even started a single plant indoors yet. Must start very soon for most flowers. Then watermelon and broccoli seeds. Outside I will hopefully be able to till in a few more weeks, and put down blood meal, feather meal, and some fish meal. My N is very low this year. Iron is right up there and Phos is always very high, as I never add any. Potash is fine too. I was hoping the winter rye would give some N, but most seeds either got eaten by birds or just didn't sprout. I think its old rye seeds they sold me at Agway, as its the second year of poor green manure cover crop. My apple trees are really looking good, and soon the buds will be popping there and on the peach/apricot/plum tree. For the tree climbers, I used a paper tree wrap and coated the outside surface with tangle trap sticky goo. Its really nasty for any animal to attempt to climb. The sticky stuff cannot be directly applied to the trunks, so I wrap with that brown stretchy tape and its snug against the trunk.

With grass that nice in March, you might like to leave it and use your patio for container gardening! :-) But for your question, I agree as Allen says. Map out your sun directions and with the houses looking quite close together, be aware of any shady spots throughout the day. Afternoon shade is still OK so you'll just need to decide which corner or side of the yard that you want to use. You also mentioned shrubs and such, so my assumption about veggie or flower gardening might not be what you're interested in. However, the same idea of mapping out your yard will still apply when you decide on trees, shrubs, flowers, or veggies.

Do not mix potting soil into your soil! You want compost, humus, organic matter...I am in N.VA with clay as well. It is actually not so bad if you amend well every year. I have let a couple years go by, so my yard is a mess now. Sigh. I would add bulbs this fall, too. They will be below your perennials and the hostas etc. will help hide the dying foliage in late spring. I have all the plants you mention plus sweet woodruff (love it as shady evergreen ground cover), dicentra (bleeding heart-disappears when the heat kicks in, but lovely in spring), anemones (bloom in fall), and lots of shade shrubs that bloom (Exochorda is one you don't see much that is lovely). Oakleaf hydrangeas are wonderful, too, but will need to be pruned once they get too large for your space. I have had bad luck with camellias-only one has survived of the six or so I have planted over the years. :-( Azaleas do nicely in part shade, too. Lots of smaller things you can use-brunnera, pulmonaria which is another favorite of mine, Aquilegia (columbine) is delicate and lovely. I love Japanese painted ferns. For hosta, check out Naylor Creek and Bridgewood Gardens. So many choices. If you want some no-id ferns, email me. I have some that have spread like crazy from one I brought down here from my mother's garden years ago. They get about 12-15 inches high and are easy to pull out if they spread too much. My neighbors love my annual "culling of the ferns-come get some!"