I have planted some azaleas and some roses and some ground cover and nothing is doing all that great. Anybody have a great garden? How'dya do it?

When I re-did my front garden I spread a big bag of Scotts Garden Soil with Miracle-Gro over the area as a topsoil, then planted my new perennials.
The Miracle-Gro continues to feed for about 3 months, allowing the new plantings to get established. Later on, I used Miracle-Gro "Bloom Booster" every other week.
So FAR (3rd season) my plants are doing great! Almost too big! Evening waterings during dry hot periods help too.

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"Accept the fact that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue"

I really haven't had any problems with our soil. However I would probably advise using some compost around your flowers.

They really help the soil and work well with flowers and veggies. You can buy good compost and potting soil along with some great plants at Greensgrow.
http://www.greensgrow.org/pages_04/nursery.html
You can also get some great flowers that you won't see at your typical home store.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBX5r...eature=related

Enjoy a clip from Faulty Towers

If you're up for the work, break up your soil and mix in some compost and peatmoss. I did this for a street tree I planted last year in nasty soil, and so far the tree is doing great and when we planted flowers out there this year the soil looked much better, and so far the flowers are doing great too.

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"I been a prisoner to a white Mr. Coffee
Down here on Christian Street" - Marah