My soil (haha) is rock and gravel in the southern Andes of Ecuador. Locals who have been growing for years have great success of course but I am newbie, so i use raised beds, pots pf all shapes/sizes and the dog food/cat food/litter bags. Fruit trees and roses do remarkably well here but not ordinary garden produce. root crops especially appreciate the raised beds of at least 12 inches. Interestingly, the rock/gravel base is OK because it provides great drainage and it isnt compacted so anything requiring a good root space does OK.. also i always have lots of twigs and branches from surrounding fruit and avocado trees so that goes on top of the gravel base. they also provide a significant amount of leaves that i just let dry out on the ground before collecting. sort of instant compost. Definitely a learning curve here.Our soil is a clay loam, and in good heart mostly. I have a small paddock with an average top soil depth of about six inches over broken shale. This is typical in the SE of Ireland. Not a good place to grow carrots or parsnips, hence raised beds. I have grown all sorts in pots and the biggest problem with them is drying out and continual watering would wash out nutrients . The heating of the root zone in pots is not an ideal condition either. Burying the pots helps. As raised beds are far bigger than pots the drying out would not be so extreme. Here in Ireland we have had the hottest, driest, summer for seventy years. No rain here for nearly three months. My raised beds are dry but still producing because the increased soil depth. I am fed up with watering my good ladies dehydrated pot plants at least twice a day.