Quick Calculators

Mulch & Soil Calculator

Calculate exactly how many bags or cubic yards of mulch, soil, or compost you need for your garden beds.

Garden Bed Size

You Will Need

0bags

Standard 2 cu ft bags (Home Depot/Lowe's)

0cubic yards

Bulk delivery from nursery

When to buy bulk:

If you need more than 13 bags, it is usually cheaper to buy a full cubic yard delivered in bulk.

Stop Guessing Bags at the Garden Center

Buying mulch or soil without measuring first usually leads to multiple frustrating trips to the home improvement store. Whether you're top-dressing a small garden bed or laying down a deep layer for weed suppression, calculating your exact cubic yardage saves time, money, and back-breaking labor.

How to Use This Tool

Enter the length and width of your garden beds and your desired depth (3 inches is standard for mulch). The tool will output your total volume in cubic yards and tell you exactly how many standard 2-cubic-foot bags you need to buy if you aren't ordering in bulk.

Frequently Asked Questions

A depth of 2 to 3 inches is ideal for standard garden mulch. This is thick enough to suppress weeds and retain moisture, but not so thick that it deprives plant roots of oxygen.
Bulk mulch (delivered by the cubic yard) is almost always cheaper than bags for large projects. If your project requires more than 1.5 cubic yards (about 20 standard bags), ordering bulk is usually the better deal.
One cubic yard of mulch will cover exactly 108 square feet at a depth of 3 inches.