Don't know if I missed your responses, but everything you say is right,I have found. I can't wait for my newly planted beds not to be so new and so soft and not to be easy diggings. The critters do a little digging in the older areas but only to a very limited extent so far. The new beds being made up almost entirely of compost and mulch are loaded with earthworms and the critters are loving it. I have been learning through experience all the things you mention.
