# Mulch and topsoil calculator: yards, bags, coverage > https://rundoo.ai/resources/guides/mulch-and-topsoil-calculator/ [Guides](/resources/guides/index.md) /Product Product # Mulch and topsoil calculator: yards, bags, coverage One cubic yard of mulch covers 108 square feet at 3 inches deep and fills about 13.5 two-cubic-foot bags, so here is a calculator for yards, bags, and loader buckets, a coverage chart, how deep to spread it, and what moves the price of a yard of mulch or topsoil. [![Titus Capilnean](https://pub-5247264bd04e4ebeaecbbedb3bebb9f8.r2.dev/static/images/articles/titus-capilnean.jpeg)](https://www.linkedin.com/in/tituscapilnean/) [Titus Capilnean](https://www.linkedin.com/in/tituscapilnean/), Head of Marketing October 27, 2026 One cubic yard of mulch covers 108 square feet at 3 inches deep, 162 square feet at 2 inches, or 324 square feet at 1 inch, and since a yard is 27 cubic feet, it fills about 13.5 bags of the common 2 cubic foot size. So when a customer asks "how much is a yard of mulch," the most useful counter answer is a coverage number and a bag count first, and a price second. ## The mulch and topsoil formula The math behind every coverage answer is one formula, and Texas AgriLife Extension prints it on its compost, soil, and mulch worksheet: **Cubic yards = square feet × depth in inches ÷ 324** A 100 square foot bed at 3 inches deep needs 100 × 3 ÷ 324, which is 0.93 cubic yards, the same example the extension uses. The 324 comes from the cubic yard itself: 27 cubic feet times 12 inches per foot. If you want cubic feet for bag counts instead, multiply the square footage by the depth in inches and divide by 12. The calculator below does both and turns the result into bags or loader buckets, rounded up so nobody comes back for one more bag on Saturday morning. ## Mulch and topsoil calculator 3.33 cubic yards 360 square feet at 3 inches deep is 90 cubic feet, which is 3.33 cubic yards, or 45 bags of 2 cubic feet. ## Worked examples you can check against the calculator These three jobs match the calculator's output, so you can check your own numbers against them before you quote a landscaper or load a truck. For circles, triangles, and cubic meters, our [cubic yard calculator](/resources/guides/cubic-yard-calculator/index.md) handles the shapes this one does not. **Front bed, 30 by 12 feet at 3 inches, in 2 cubic foot bags.** The area is 360 square feet, and at 3 inches that is 90 cubic feet, which is 3.33 cubic yards. In 2 cubic foot bags it comes to 45 bags, which is a lot of plastic to drag across a lawn and a good moment to mention the bulk pile. **Foundation strip, 40 by 5 feet at 4 inches, in 3 cubic foot bags or a 1.5 yard bucket.** The area is 200 square feet, and at 4 inches that is 66.7 cubic feet, or 2.47 cubic yards. In 3 cubic foot bags that is 22.2, so 23 bags rounded up. Off the pile, 2.47 yards is 1.65 buckets of 1.5 yards, so the loader makes two trips and the second bucket goes out partly full, which is exactly why a counter that can ring 2.47 yards beats one that can only ring whole buckets. **Topsoil for a new lawn area, 50 by 20 feet at 4 inches, with a 2 yard bucket.** The area is 1,000 square feet, so that is 333.3 cubic feet, or 12.35 cubic yards, which is a little over six buckets, so seven trips with the loader. On a job that size, the difference between billing 12.35 yards and rounding to a whole number of buckets is real money for one side or the other, and the unit of measure setup below is how a yard keeps it fair. ## Coverage chart for one cubic yard Divide 324 by the depth in inches and you get the square footage one yard covers. Print this one and tape it near the counter, because "how much does a yard cover" is one of the questions a bulk yard hears most. | Depth | Coverage from 1 cubic yard | | --- | --- | | 1 inch | 324 sq ft | | 2 inches | 162 sq ft | | 3 inches | 108 sq ft | | 4 inches | 81 sq ft | | 6 inches | 54 sq ft | For beds that are not rectangles, a circle's area is 3.1416 times the radius squared and a triangle's is the base times the height divided by 2. A round bed 20 feet across has a 10 foot radius, so it is about 314 square feet, which at 3 inches is 2.91 yards. ## How deep to spread mulch, and how deep to lay topsoil Depth is the number customers guess at most, and it moves the yardage more than anything else on the ticket. University of Illinois Extension recommends 2 to 4 inches of mulch and warns that thicker layers can mat down and cut off water and oxygen. Composted materials go on in a 2 to 3 inch layer, and coarse mulches in a 3 to 4 inch layer. The other rule worth repeating to every customer who will listen: keep mulch at least 4 inches away from the trunk. Illinois Extension lists overmulching and mulch piled against the trunk and root flare among the most common causes of tree decline, so when a homeowner wants to bury the base of a maple in a mulch volcano, that is a teaching moment, and a smaller order is a fair trade for a customer whose tree lives. Topsoil depth depends on the job. Topdressing an existing lawn is a thin coat, filling low spots takes a few inches, and building up a new lawn area like the 50 by 20 example above is a bigger dig altogether. Rather than hand out one number, ask the customer what the soil has to do, then run the formula with the depth that job calls for. ## Bags versus bulk: the 13.5 bag question A cubic yard is 27 cubic feet, so one yard equals 13.5 bags of the 2 cubic foot size, 9 bags of the 3 cubic foot size, or 27 bags of the 1 cubic foot size. The bag count always comes off the label, because bag sizes vary by product, and Texas AgriLife Extension makes the same point: for 1 cubic foot bags, multiply cubic yards by 27. At 3 inches deep a single yard covers 108 square feet, so anything bigger than a couple of small beds starts to tip toward the pile. Bags suit small touch-ups, customers without a truck, and specialty products, while bulk suits volume jobs, landscape crews, and anywhere a loader can beat a wheelbarrow. A quick way to compare for a customer is to price 13.5 bags against one bulk yard plus any delivery. Many yards sell the same mulch both ways, and those should be two different items in the point of sale: a bag counted one at a time, and a yard sold in decimals. Our guide to [garden center units of measure](/resources/guides/garden-center-units-flats-yards-tons/index.md) covers how flats, yards, and tons live side by side in one system. ## What drives mulch and topsoil prices per yard Yards get asked for their mulch price per yard and topsoil price per yard all day, and the number moves with the material, the buying, and the logistics. The material comes first: dyed or natural mulch, single or double ground, screened topsoil (which has had another pass through the screen to pull out rocks and clods) or unscreened, and compost blends that vary with what is in the mix. Two products that both say "black mulch" on the sign can be very different loads of wood. How the yard buys matters too. Buying by the truckload from a vendor spreads the freight over more yards, and a pile you bought as a hundred yards does not always sell as a hundred yards once it settles and weathers, so shrink belongs in the cost. Delivery is often priced on its own line, and our guide to [delivery fees and fuel surcharges](/resources/guides/delivery-fees-and-fuel-surcharges/index.md) covers how yards structure it. And contractor price levels mean the landscaper buying by the truckload every week is not paying the walk-in rate, which only works if the tier comes out the same on every ticket. Bulk mulch pricing usually comes down to some mix of four levers: a price per yard, a price per bucket when the bucket is the unit you sell, a minimum load for delivery, and a contractor price level for the regulars. Whatever mix you pick, the ticket should show the quantity clearly. Many states have bulk-sale ticket rules modeled on NIST Handbook 130, and North Carolina's G.S. 81A-26, for one, requires a delivery ticket on bulk sales over $20 when the seller determines the quantity, showing the seller, the buyer, the date, the quantity, and the material. ## Setting up the yard to sell it right The counter math only works if the system behind the counter is set up for bulk, and three decisions do most of the work. First, make the loader bucket a unit of measure, so "two buckets" rings as 3 yards when your bucket holds 1.5, and the count on the pile drops in yards either way. Second, turn on decimal quantities for bulk items, because 2.47 yards of topsoil is a real order, and rounding everything to whole yards either gives product away or overcharges the customer. Third, set up bagged and bulk as separate items, so the count on the pallet and the count in the pile do not blur together. If you weigh instead of scooping, the same logic applies in tons, and the scale ticket is the record of what left the yard. If you are mapping out the whole operation, from the pile to the delivery schedule, our guide to [running a landscape supply yard](/resources/guides/landscape-supply-yard-business/index.md) goes wider than the math. ## How Rundoo handles the bulk yard Rundoo is the AI-first POS for independent supply stores, and it sells mulch and soil by the yard in whatever units of measure you set up, with decimal quantities switched on per product, so 1.75 yards rings as 1.75 yards. Landscaper pricing tiers are set once and apply on every line, and charge accounts come with credit limits, statements, and each landscaper job billed separately on one account. You can schedule the delivery from the sale, the driver sees the stop in the Staff App and collects a signature and photos at the drop, and Dooey, Rundoo's AI assistant, can build the delivery and put the stops in drive order. Rundoo does not connect to a scale, so weighed loads go on the sale from the scale ticket. The rest of the garden center picture is on our [garden center POS](/industries/garden-centers/index.md) page. Share Topics [Product](/resources/guides/index.md#inventory-and-purchasing) [← All guides](/resources/guides/index.md) ## Frequently asked questions How much does a yard of mulch cover? One cubic yard covers 324 square feet at 1 inch deep, 162 at 2 inches, 108 at 3 inches, 81 at 4 inches, and 54 at 6 inches. Divide 324 by the depth in inches to get the coverage at any depth, so a yard spread 3 inches deep covers a bed about 10 by 11 feet. How many bags of mulch are in a yard? A cubic yard is 27 cubic feet, so it holds 13.5 bags of the common 2 cubic foot size, 9 bags of the 3 cubic foot size, or 27 bags of the 1 cubic foot size. Check the volume printed on the bag, divide 27 by it, and round up for the job. How do I calculate how much mulch or topsoil I need? Multiply the length by the width in feet to get square feet, multiply by the depth in inches, and divide by 324 to get cubic yards. A 30 by 12 foot bed at 3 inches is 360 square feet times 3, divided by 324, which is 3.33 cubic yards or 45 bags of 2 cubic feet. The same formula works for topsoil and compost. How deep should mulch be? University of Illinois Extension recommends 2 to 4 inches: 2 to 3 inches for composted material and 3 to 4 inches for coarse mulch. Deeper layers can mat down and keep water and oxygen from the soil, and mulch should stay at least 4 inches away from tree trunks, because mulch piled against the trunk and root flare is a common cause of tree decline. How much is a yard of mulch? The price per yard depends on the material (dyed or natural mulch, screened or unscreened topsoil, compost blends), what the yard pays its vendor and for freight, how much the pile shrinks to weather and settling, whether delivery is added, and whether you buy at a contractor price level. Call the yard with the number of yards you need and your delivery address for a real quote. ## Find out what Rundoo can do for your business Learn how Rundoo can help you save time, money and hassle running your business. [Book a demo](/signup/index.md) ! ## See Rundoo in action [Product ### Tour the platform POS, inventory, payments, and AI for independent supply stores, in one system.](/product/index.md) [Customers ### Read customer stories See how real paint, hardware, farm, garden, and lumber stores run on Rundoo.](/clients/index.md) ## Keep reading [![ABC analysis for inventory: classify every SKU](https://pub-5247264bd04e4ebeaecbbedb3bebb9f8.r2.dev/static/images/articles/abc-analysis-inventory-aisle-photo.jpg) Product ### ABC analysis for inventory: classify every SKU ABC analysis ranks every SKU by annual dollar movement at cost so your counting, reordering, and vendor attention go where the money is, and here is the step-by-step method with a ten-SKU feed and hardware example.](/resources/guides/abc-analysis-inventory/index.md) [![Backorder vs special order vs out of stock](https://pub-5247264bd04e4ebeaecbbedb3bebb9f8.r2.dev/static/images/articles/backorder-vs-special-order-photo.jpg) Product ### Backorder vs special order vs out of stock Out of stock means your shelf is empty, a backorder means the vendor's shelf is empty, and a special order is an item you never stock that you order for one customer, and each one gets a different answer at the counter.](/resources/guides/backorder-vs-special-order/index.md) [![Cubic yard calculator: feet and inches to yards](https://pub-5247264bd04e4ebeaecbbedb3bebb9f8.r2.dev/static/images/articles/cubic-yard-calculator-photo.jpg) Product ### Cubic yard calculator: feet and inches to yards A cubic yard is length times width times depth in feet, divided by 27, so here is a calculator for rectangles, circles, and triangles with depth in inches, three worked examples, the three mistakes that wreck an estimate, and the conversion to cubic meters.](/resources/guides/cubic-yard-calculator/index.md)