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Did you ever put a garden fork to it to break up the hardpan?
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DINGDINGDINGDING! I think we have a winner. I believe that is the difference. One the side with the now-good soil, I tilled it in. I think that mixing the red clay in with the "good stuff" kept it there and prevented it from washing away. It took a few years as the tiller would just bounce on the clay. Where there wasn't red clay, there was black gumbo. I've literally stood on top of a shovel and jumped up and down on it like a pogo stick. When it's dry, you are not breaking in.
On the now-bad side, I didn't do anything to work it in. I was told that the worms would do that for me. They didn't. There were worms there, but evidently, they are the kind that prefer red clay to compost as I rarely saw them near the surface.
As for carrots, I grew those for the first time last year. I made a new bed, dug down about two feet and filled with compost (not enough, evidently, but that's another story). The carrots did OK in that, but the stray seeds that ended up on the red stuff actually did better! Now that I've reworked that bed so that the level is higher than the surroundings, maybe they'll do better. Garlic, on the other hand, didn't like the red stuff at all. Same for onions.
I think the bathtub will do find as long as my "good soil" level is higher than the surroundings. It may fill with water, but the stuff on top at root level can stay dry. That's my ingenious thinking anyway.
Either way, tilling has worked well for me. Maybe turning with a pitchfork will do the same, or better, but it's just not the same workout as fighting the Mantis that just hit a rock and wants to do a jumpy dance. It's like my personal rodeo. As for the worms, I have an endless supply of rabbit poo about five miles away that I can get a yard at a time. So, I have worms, they are just outsourced to my compost pile.