A few years ago, maybe more then five, I purchased only two bags of soil that was on for a 'good deal'. When I opened the bag, it ended up being complete garbage, but I didn't recognize at the time what businesses will do.
This stuff hardened to almost cement like quality, did not mix into the soil, and I would have been better off using it as pothole fill then garden soil. Watch out for great deals on soil. This might have been the dust from cement that was crushed for fill, but the dust was added to a soil as a filler. If it wasn't, it definitely behaved that way.
Three days ago, I purchased five bags of "Great Value Black Earth" from Walmart. Absolute garbage! It was not black earth. Black earth is the fertile soil that usually comes either from completely composted debris, or its the stuff under trees that has absorbed loads of organic matter, and acidic content from the needles of evergreens. This stuff is great for soil, but needs to be sweetened with lime for plants that do not like the acids there.
What was in the bag was bark fines, probably from mulches that no longer acted like mulch and needed to be disposed of, and muck. Not soil. Not dirt. Muck. Stuff that is scraped off the bottoms of mud puddles, or maybe even city streets by the street sweeper.
I bought five bags. I'm returning four, as I opened the first, and used most of it before realizing just how poor a quality this stuff was. It wasn't soil, or top soil. I don't know where they actually got it, but its not even worth the plastic it was wrapped in. I ended up mixing it with some potting soil that was already used, but there was no quality ingredients in that bag.
If you must, open a bag to look inside before you buy. Great deals are often just wastes of money. I think I'm going to try a U-bag soil seller next time. Small scale sellers like that have their soils outside, in the elements, but you can see what it is, and what it isn't.
Another case of buyer beware. Bloody hell.
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