Grassroots Living Soil Basic Beds are large reusable fabric growing beds designed specifically for living soil and no-till growing, combining MoistureLock™ lined sides with lower drainage and aeration to maintain a more consistent soil environment.
This Basic Bed version is supplied without the structural PVC pipework. The required plastic corner and connection fittings are included, allowing you to source and cut your own compatible pipe to build the supporting frame.
Key features
- Designed for living soil: built around the moisture requirements of biologically active soil.
- MoistureLock™ lined sides: BPA-free waterproof lining reduces excessive moisture loss through the side walls.
- Breathable lower section: provides drainage, aeration and root-zone air pruning around the bottom of the bed.
- Large shared soil volume: helps create a more stable moisture, nutrient and biological environment.
- Ideal for no-till growing: soil can remain in the bed and be re-amended between growing cycles.
- Frame fittings included: plastic corner and connection fittings are supplied.
- Pipework not included: you source and cut the structural PVC pipe yourself.
Why use a bed instead of individual pots?
A large bed creates one continuous body of soil. Roots, microorganisms, organic matter, moisture and mineral nutrition can interact throughout this larger volume, giving the system greater buffering capacity than a collection of small containers.
How MoistureLock works
A BPA-free waterproof fabric liner is incorporated around the sides of the bed, reducing lateral moisture loss and encouraging irrigation water to move down through the soil profile. A breathable lower strip retains drainage and air exchange.
Important: this version does not include pipework
The Grassroots Living Soil Basic Bed requires a supporting frame, and structural PVC pipe is not included with this version. The bed is supplied with the required plastic corner and connection fittings.
What pipe do I need?
The supplied fittings are designed around 1-inch Schedule 40 furniture-grade PVC dimensions. When sourcing pipe in the UK, the critical measurement is the outside diameter of 33.4mm. Schedule 40 has a wall thickness of approximately 3.3mm. Do not assume any pipe sold simply as 1-inch PVC will fit.
Available sizes
- 2ft x 4ft: 299L brim-full volume, approximately 56 x 117 x 46cm.
- 3ft x 3ft: 322L brim-full volume, approximately 84 x 84 x 46cm.
- 3ft x 6ft: 681L brim-full volume, approximately 84 x 178 x 46cm.
- 4ft x 4ft: 625L brim-full volume, approximately 117 x 117 x 46cm.
- 4ft x 8ft: 1276L brim-full volume, approximately 117 x 239 x 46cm.
- 4ft x 16ft: 2718L brim-full volume, approximately 122 x 488 x 46cm.
Brim-full volume vs working soil volume
In practice, leave room at the top for compost, top-dress amendments, mulch and irrigation hardware. Actual working soil volume will normally be lower than the maximum capacity shown in the product option.
How to set up a Grassroots Living Soil Bed
- Choose the final location and protect the floor where required.
- Cut suitable 33.4mm outside-diameter PVC pipe and assemble it with the supplied fittings.
- Fit the fabric bed correctly within the completed frame.
- Add the growing medium gradually without heavily compacting it.
- Leave top-dressing space and hydrate large volumes progressively.
Use Bottomless Pots with a living soil bed
The Grassroots Classic Bottomless Pot 1 Gallon / 3.8L is designed for establishing young plants before introducing them to a larger living-soil bed.
Designed for no-till growing
The biggest benefit of investing in a Grassroots bed comes from treating the soil as a long-term growing system rather than disposable growing media. After harvest, soil can remain in the bed while nutrition and organic matter are replenished.
The NPK Gardening Solutions take
The real reason to move from pots to a Grassroots Living Soil Bed is the stability that comes from managing one large, continuous soil ecosystem. This Basic version makes sense if you are comfortable sourcing and cutting your own PVC. Just make sure you buy the correct 33.4mm outside-diameter pipe.
Choose Grassroots Living Soil Basic Beds if you want to build a large, permanent and reusable living-soil system and are happy to source the structural PVC pipework yourself.