Charles Ellicott Commentary Matthew 13:5

"and others fell upon the rocky places, where they had not much earth: and straightway they sprang up, because they had no deepness of earth:" — Matthew 13:5 (ASV)

Stony places — This refers either to ground in which stones and pebbles were mixed with the soil or, more probably, where a thin layer of earth covered solid rock. Here, of course, growth was rapid because of the very circumstance that later proved fatal.