Mulch Calculator
Enter your garden bed dimensions and get real cubic yards or bag counts, based on your coverage depth.
You'll need
0.93 cubic yards
(25.0 cubic feet)
2 cu ft bags needed
13 bags
Keep going
- Garden beds usually get a layer of topsoil first and mulch on top; the topsoil calculator sizes that fill layer underneath. Topsoil Calculator
Frequently Asked Questions
How deep should mulch be?
2-3 inches is the standard trade recommendation for most garden beds. Less than 2" doesn't suppress weeds well; more than 4" can actually suffocate plant roots and hold too much moisture against stems.
How many bags of mulch is a cubic yard?
A standard retail mulch bag holds 2 cubic feet, and there are 27 cubic feet in a cubic yard -- so it takes about 13.5 bags to equal one cubic yard. Buying in bulk (by the cubic yard) is almost always cheaper than bags once you need more than a few.
How often should I re-mulch?
Organic mulch (bark, wood chips) breaks down over time and is typically refreshed once a year, though a thinner top-up rather than a full fresh layer is often enough if the existing mulch hasn't fully decomposed.