For anyone who has lost a plant to the wrong soil

Living soil for every plant. Stop guessing what goes in the pot.

Pick the plant you are growing. Living Soil gives you its soil mix from published references, measured out for exactly what you are filling: a bucket, a row of pots or a whole raised bed.

Launch sale: up to 40% off until New Year's Day. On a phone the sale is already in the store price. In the web app, enter the code LAUNCH40 at checkout.

Find my plant's mix, free How much soil do I need?

Browse every plant free in your browser. No card needed to look.

761 growing guides
108 fertilizer blends
44 soil mixes
343 references behind them

A garden bed cut away to show above and below ground: tomatoes, kale, marigolds and clover over straw mulch and mushrooms, and below them dark crumbly soil with deep branching roots, white fungal threads, pink nodules on the clover roots, earthworms and a beetle grub.

The bag says all purpose. Your plants are not.

A cactus wants a mix that drains fast. A pitcher plant wants one with almost nothing to feed it. A tomato in a raised bed wants something else again. One bag cannot be right for all of them, and the plant is the one that pays for the guess.

A row of bean plants cut away to show their roots. On the left, cracked, compacted gray soil with a puddle, a hard layer and short roots running sideways under a small yellow plant. Moving right, the soil turns dark and crumbly with mulch, earthworms and fungal threads, and the roots grow much deeper under a tall, flowering plant. — Compacted on the left, alive on the right. The roots go as deep as the soil lets them.

Two glass jars on a potting bench, each with a pepper seedling. The left holds dark, waterlogged, compacted soil with few short roots and a pale, drooping plant. The right holds an airy mix of bark, perlite and compost filled with white roots under a lush, flowering plant. — Heavy, wet and compacted, or light, airy and crumbly.

Two basil plants slipped out of terracotta pots on a wooden table. The left root ball is dense, muddy and holds the pot's shape, with a few thin roots and a pale, limp plant. The right is a crumbly mix of bark and perlite wrapped in white roots under a full, glossy plant. — Out of the pot: the root ball tells you how the soil is doing.

Same plant. Same pot. Only the soil changed.

How it works

Pick your plant

Search by name or browse 15 groups, from desert succulents to plants that live under water. Every overview is free.
Unlock its mix

One credit opens the full recipe: what goes in, how much of each, and the reference behind every figure. It stays on your account for good.
Make exactly enough

Tell it what you are filling. It works out every ingredient for your batch, your pots or your bed, and draws the finished soil as layers.

Find my plant's mix, free

Why you can trust a mix

A recipe from a forum or a video is often one grower's way, with nothing to check it against. Every mix here is built from published references. Where references disagree, both approaches are shown. Where none gives a figure, none is shown.

Nothing is made up to fill a gap, and nothing is hidden behind a single opinion. You see what the references say and decide for yourself.

What you get

Exact amounts, any size

Make a batch, fill a few pots, or give the length, width and depth of a bed. Living Soil works out how much of each ingredient you need.

Your soil, drawn as layers

Every mix is drawn as a soil profile in the colors of the real materials, so you can see what goes in the bucket before you open a bag.

761 growing guides

For each plant: how to feed it, how to spot trouble early, and its own soil mix wherever the references give one.

108 fertilizer blends

Feeds you can mix yourself from products you can buy, each with the reference behind it.

What can I make?

Tell it what is already on your shelf and see which mixes you can make today, before you buy another bag.

Fertilizer and pH calculators

Work out how much of a bag supplies the nitrogen, phosphorus or potassium you want, or how much sulfur it takes to lower soil pH.

What it covers

From plants that rot if the mix stays wet to plants that live under water.

Cactus and desert succulents
General houseplants
Tropical aroids
Orchids
African violets and gesneriads
Carnivorous plants
Bog and pond plants
Aquarium and fully submerged plants
Seed starting and cuttings
Raised beds and vegetable gardens
Container vegetables and herbs
Acid loving plants
Ferns and shade plants
Lawn topdressing
Bonsai

How much soil does your bed need?

A 4 by 8 foot bed, 12 inches deep, takes 32 cubic feet. Work out yours, and how many bags that is, with the free soil calculator.

Open the free calculator

Good soil is alive

Healthy soil is full of life: roots, fungi and tiny animals, most of them too small to see. The right mix gives them room to work.

Extreme close up of a white root tip covered in root hairs, running between soil crumbs, with white fungal threads, small springtails, a red mite, a coiled nematode and a decaying leaf skeleton. — Up close: a root tip with its root hairs, fungal threads, springtails, a mite and a nematode among the soil crumbs.

A microscope view on a black background: a root hair lined with bacteria, golden fungal threads, an oval protozoan, an amoeba, a nematode, a tardigrade and grains of mineral and plant matter. — Under a microscope: bacteria along a root hair, fungal threads, a protozoan, an amoeba, a nematode and a tardigrade.

Pricing

Browse free. Pay only for the recipes you want, and keep them for good.

Free

Every plant's overview, search, the safety guidance, adding your ingredients, your saved mixes and your backup are free and always will be.

A new account gets one recipe free in the phone apps.

Start browsing

Lowest price per credit: 15 credits

Credits

One credit unlocks one recipe or blend, kept on your account for good. A growing guide with two or more mixes of its own takes two. A lawn grass guide takes 4 credits, with the feeding plan for your soil included. Credits never expire.

$1.49 1 credit

$4.99 6 credits

$0.83 a credit: 6 credits for less than 4 singles.

$9.99 15 credits

$0.67 a credit, the lowest price per credit.

One payment each. Never renews. The calculators open for 7 days for 1 credit.

Get credits

Plans

$4.99 every month

10 credits every month, and both calculators while it runs.

$49.99 every year

200 credits every year, and both calculators while it runs.

Unused credits carry over, and everything you unlock stays yours if you cancel. Plans renew until you cancel. For the annual plan the app reminds you a month before and a week before it renews, if you allow notifications. Cancel whenever you like from your Google Play or Apple subscriptions, or, for a plan bought in the browser, from Manage your plan on the credits screen.

See plans

What one credit opens

The full recipe: every ingredient and how much of each
The reference behind every figure, and both approaches where references disagree
Exact amounts for your batch, your pots or your bed
The finished soil drawn as layers
Yours for as long as your account exists, on your phone and in your browser

Nothing renews unless you choose a plan. Payments in the browser are taken by Stripe, and we never see your card.

Every option side by side, and which to choose

Questions

Why pay when there are free recipes online?

A free recipe is often one grower's way, with no reference and nothing to compare it with. Here every figure carries its reference, where references disagree you see both, and the mix is measured for exactly what you are filling. You also browse every plant free first, so you only pay for the recipes you decide you want.

What if my plant is not in the list?

Search by its name first: the 761 growing guides and 15 groups cover a lot of ground, and every overview is free to read before you spend a credit.

Can I use it in my browser?

Yes. Living Soil runs in your browser today, and the phone apps are coming soon to Google Play and the App Store. One account works in all of them, with the same credits and recipes.

Do I need an account?

Not to browse. Every plant's overview is free with no account. To unlock recipes, sign in with Apple, Google or your email address, so your credits and recipes follow you anywhere. Your saved mixes, batches and ingredients stay on your device and are never sent anywhere.

Is paying safe?

In the browser, payment happens on Stripe's own secure page. We never see or store your card. In the phone apps, Google Play or Apple handles it.

What happens when I get a new phone?

How much soil does a 4 by 8 foot raised bed need?

At 12 inches deep, 32 cubic feet, which is about 906 liters. The free soil calculator works it out for any bed or set of pots, and Living Soil splits it into each ingredient of the mix you pick.

Do plans renew? Do credits expire?

Plans renew until you cancel, and the app reminds you a month and a week before the annual plan renews if you allow notifications. Credits never expire, and credit packs never renew.

All questions and answers

Your next mix, measured and sourced.

Look up the plant you are growing. If its mix is right for you, unlock it for one credit and make exactly enough.