Well, IMO "luck" doesn't play a part in creating fertile soil. Many of us have spent years and a lot of work to have healthy soil with lots of worms. I've never seen an earthworm in my compost tho, even when it's not very hot. I started with heavy clay soil with only a very thin layer of topsoil and by amending it with cattle/horse manure, mushroom manure, sawdust, and even 'topsoil' I then grew cover crops which can greatly improve the soil. We didn't have large rocks in our garden area but I've handpicked a ton of smaller ones. The best way I've found to increase the population of earthworms is to bury raw kitchen trimmings between plants. The worms find them, enjoy their banquet, and reproduce. I think one might have worms in a raised bed unless you have used landscape cloth under it for weed control. However in a hot climate it may be too warm for worms depending on the depth of the raised bed. If I had a yard with all those rocks I'd hire someone with a skid steer and scarifier and rockhound attachments to remove those rocks. Otherwise they'll be a continuous problem.

Jimm, Our own Adenium master Randy has written extensively on cultivating his beautiful plants - if you do a search for his posts you'll find a wealth of knowledge, a veritable mine of sagacity.....on the subject - look for any recent Adenium posts (or as some folks generally call it, 'Desert Rose' and I'd bet you a dollar to a doughnut that he'll have something to say that will make you sit up and grow 'em right. I'm sure that what you've done is great (L myself never meandered into Adeniums much, and certainly not the Adeniums that he grows), but he's got The Touch.

can I add please ? yellowing plants could also result from lack of potassium intake... I think a lot of folks over-look this. it doesn't necessarily display it's self with browning tips. therefore many people think of nitrogen deficiency. that is not always the case

I have two open bottom planter boxes from last year that are 10’x2’x2’. They’re filled with 50/50 topsoil compost mix which my local bulk supply place swore would work great. Well my peppers eggplant and beans were relatively happy. Okra and tomatoes were not. I had my doubts that the soil was too heavy and didn’t drain quickly enough. Fast forward to today - the soil settled about 6” below the top and I have a chance to amend w something lighter and fast draining. I’m looking at 3/8” lava rock or #3 perlite which is 1/2”. Leaning towards the lava rock bc it’s cheaper and breaks down more slowly. I’m also planning to add alot of worm castings as I have a bulk source. I also have a closed bottom box (with some holes and gaps for drainage) that’s about 33” cubed. I stupidly filled it with the same 50/50 mix before remembering about the drainage problem. I watered it in after filling and the mix turned to mud at least in top. I’m now wondering if I should empty it out completely and fill it with a much lighter weight mix that has bark and lava rock added to compost and topsoil. Or whether it would just be better to empty it out partway and simply mix lava rock and/or perlite. I also plan to add alot of worm castings to this mix. Would love your thoughts. I have a lot of experience growing food in the ground but not in boxes.