Hi - I'm a first-time gardener, we have a small border garden (50 cm wide, 8 meters around 3 sides) around a patio. Two months ago a contractor filled the garden area mostly with a red sand (not soil) plus some compost, and planted a few things.

We have a drip watering system. The garden gets direct sunlight from 12-4:30 pm year-round. Down below the dirt is mostly clay.

We have a 5 year old lime which until now was in a pot, one year we got 3 ok limes, another year the tiny fruits blew off in a storm, another year we didn't give it enough water. Now, it lime tree keeps dropping its fruit. The yesterday-today-tomorrow and pandarea only flowered once shortly after I watered with fertilizer.

Is this normal for a newly-planted garden, or could it be I need to improve the soil? Is this easily done without digging up half the dirt and replacing it?

Or - if the plants were planted a little below the surface of the soil could that be the cause of the problem?

Thank you.