The Sorry State of Consumer Soils. Most of the commodity soils available are really bad.
Consumers buy dirt-cheap soil.
John Rothman You cannot tell the quality of soil without a laboratory analysis. It does not matter if it is dark, or smells like decaying organic material. It could still contain either enough toxic stuff to kill your entire garden or virtually no nutrients at all. For this reason, and due to the economics of the market, most consumers have never had access to really good soil. Retailers know that the cheaper it is the more they will sell, and that the consumer does not know the difference.