..... not enough information. Why do YOU think they are not doing well? Soil too water-retentive? because of the material the soil is made of? Is this a mineral-based soil (like topsoil) or organic-based? Does/did it smell like pine?

Al

BTW - have you fertilized ...... and with what?

Al

If it's "soil" that is to be used in the garden, it was a mistake.

If it is formulated to be used in containers, something else is going on.

Did you mistakenly put rocks or other coarse stuff in the bottom to "improve drainage?" If so, unpot and remove it.

Many media that are primarily comprised of organic parts are aimed at the container culture market. A very few are good; most are marginally OK; a fair % are so bad that anyone knowledgeable about container media would never want to use them. From this, we can take the idea that even though a medium is targeted for the container market, it can still be a very poor choice and the source of considerable woe. All container media are not created equal, so the fact that a medium is advertised fit for container culture is no guarantee that it is, and it could still easily be the medium choice that is the source of trouble, even if it's a "container soil".

Rocks/packing peanuts/other "drainage" material in the bottom of a container aren't the end of the world. I think we all know now, that drainage layers do not enhance the drainage characteristics of a medium, they simply take up space and reduce the amount of soil available for root colonization and the o/a amount of water and nutrients the container can hold. They also change/raise the location of the perched water table (when using soils that support perched water) from the container's bottom to the soil immediately above the drainage layer. I don't think that because someone uses a drainage layer, even though they're ineffectual, there is necessarily a need to change anything. It depends more on the maturity of the planting and how quickly air is returning to the soil than anything else.

Al

Were you looking for 'soil' components or an actual 'potting soil?' If you google exactly what you said in your original post ('scotchman's choice landscape mix' at lowes), you should find a few things that might help you.

It looks like Hope Agri Products (Scotchman's) makes different types of mulches/fines (not all pine...)

I did find a few threads on this forum discussing Scotchman's as well. Here's one:

"Posted by lou_midlothian_tx z8 DFW, Tx (My Page) on Tue, Aug 19, 08 at 21:20

expanded shale can be used in place of granite (no filtering out fine stuff). I just get whatever I can get my hands on for landscaper mix regardless of which brand. I have to admit that quality varies but sometimes you just don't have a choice but get it and filter out fine particles as sometime everybody runs out of them so I plan on stocking up early in the year when they have better stuff out so i don't have to buy inferior ones like Scotchman's landscape mix. I'm not too fond of turface. Too much filtering out fine particles. I'm leaning toward to expanded shale for good."

The link to that one is below.

There are quite a few others as well... (I like research =D)

Hope this helps
Shannon

Here is a link that might be useful: Components for Al's mix in DFW area?

What little I can find out about Scotchman's Choice Landscape Mix is that it is a wood mulch material not a potting soil mix.

thanks everyone, for your responses. i've fertilized with osmocote and also miracle grow at times. bottom line (and as a gardener of MANY years, it is embarrassing to admit this) i used the wrong product. in a hurry, not engaging brain before taking action, brain bubble, blonde moment ... whatever you want to call it. this fall i will be repotting many plants, as i used this stuff a LOT. it was to be used as a soil amendment at first, but when i started repotting things, i grabbed it.