Mulch Calculator

How to use

1. 1Pick units (feet / inches or meters), then tap a material preset to set a sensible depth, or type your own depth in inches or centimeters.
2. 2Add one bed for each area you want to cover. Pick a shape (rectangle, circle, tree ring, or triangle), enter dimensions, and use Count for repeated identical beds.
3. 3Optional: set a waste allowance percent (5 to 10% is common) so the order rounds up for compaction and over-spread.
4. 4Optional: turn on Cost estimate, pick whether you are pricing per bag, per cubic yard, or per cubic meter, then enter the price and currency.
5. 5Read the total bed area, the volume needed, the bag counts for every common bag size, and the cost estimate. Use Copy summary to send the order to your notes, a landscaper, or a hardware store list.

About this tool

Mulch Calculator estimates how much mulch, topsoil, compost, bark, or decorative gravel you need to cover one or more landscape beds at a chosen depth, then converts the result into cubic yards, cubic meters, cubic feet, and the equivalent number of bags of the five common bag sizes (1 cu ft, 2 cu ft, 3 cu ft, 50 L, and 70 L). Beds can be rectangles for borders and paths, circles for round planters, rings for the area around a tree trunk (outer minus inner diameter), or triangles for corner beds, and any bed can be repeated with a count multiplier so four identical tree rings only need to be entered once. Dimensions are typed in feet plus inches or meters and depth has its own inches or centimeters selector since people usually think of mulch depth in inches even when their beds are measured in meters. A material preset row sets a sensible default depth for the type of material you are spreading: wood mulch and bark at 3 in / 7.5 cm, compost top-dress at 1 in / 2.5 cm, compost amendment and topsoil refresh at 2 in / 5 cm, and decorative gravel at 2 in / 5 cm. A waste allowance percent rounds the order up to cover compaction, settling, and over-spread, with a default of 0% so the math stays exact when you want it to. An optional cost panel adds a total estimate from one of three pricing modes: per bag (with the bag size selectable), per cubic yard for bulk loose mulch sold by the yard in the US, or per cubic meter for bulk loose mulch sold by volume elsewhere, with twelve currencies formatted using the browser's Intl.NumberFormat so prices read naturally. The result panel shows total bed area, the raw volume needed in cubic yards, cubic meters, and cubic feet, the volume to order after the waste allowance, the bag count for every common bag size, and the cost estimate when one is set, plus a Copy summary button that turns the whole calculation into a clean text block ready for a landscaper, a hardware store run, or a notes app. The math is straightforward: bed area multiplied by depth gives volume in cubic meters internally, which is then converted to every other unit on the way out. Spread, settle, and compaction will move the real number around a few percent, so treat the result as a planning figure and round up when you order. Everything runs locally in your browser; bed dimensions, prices, and totals you enter are never uploaded, stored, or sent to any server.

Free to use. Works in your browser. No signup, no login.