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As a guy that has been forced to take soil density samples, and watch the darn things get run, I will tell you that all the soil you brought in for those elevated boxes was all fluffy when you filled them, and they have been settling with every watering, earthquake, and step of various animal and human feet. And they stop settling when the matrix of soil particles can support the load of the soil and plants above.
So dig it out, and that little structure is destroyed. All the air and water that was happy in the soil is gone. The hole does not get filled up.
And don't tell me that you stomped it all down when you put it in. The stomping did little to get it above 80% consolidated. And quite honestly, you don't want more consolidation, the plants won't like it.
Recently I read the story of a monk several hundred years ago who planted an oak tree seedling in a large pot, measuring the soil that was put in the pot and weighing the tree. The soil weighed 200 pounds, and the tree 4 ounces. The tree was watered regularily, but no fertilizer was added, just water. After many years, the tree was dug up and weighed, 100 pounds. The soil was removed and weighed 200 pounds, less 2 ounces. So two ounces of soil and water became 100 pounds of tree. Humm.
