How much is 2 cu feet of mulch

How To Figure The Area Of Your Landscape Beds or The Area You Want To Mulch:

With a measuring tape, measure how many feet long the bed is. Then measure how many feet wide. Multiply these two figures. The total is the square foot area of that landscape bed.
Decide how thick you want your mulch to be (2” is average). For new landscape beds, 4” of mulch is recommended. If you are just top dressing a previously mulched bed, you may wish to use as little as 1” of mulch. Using the conversion chart below or Mulch Calculator to the right, you can figure how many cubic yards or bags of mulch, soil or gravel to order.
If you still have questions, please call our corporate office at (816) 941-4700. If you have the total area of your landscape beds calculated, we’d be glad to help you figure the amount of mulch, soil or gravel you will need.

BULK MATERIAL
ONE cubic yard will
cover approximately:

1296 sq. ft. 1/4″ deep

648 sq. ft. 1/2″ deep

324 sq. ft. 1″ deep

162 sq. ft. 2″ deep

108 sq. ft. 3″ deep

81 sq. ft. 4″ deep

BAGGED MATERIAL
ONE 2 cubic foot bag will
cover approximately:

96 sq. ft. 1/4″ deep

48 sq. ft. 1/2″ deep

24 sq. ft. 1″ deep

12 sq. ft. 2″ deep

8 sq. ft. 3″ deep

6 sq. ft. 4″ deep

Conversions
1 square yard = 9 square feet
1 cubic yard = 27 cubic feet

Areas We Service
Kansas City, MO Overland Park, KS Independence, MO Blue Springs, MO Grandview, MO
Shawnee, KS Olathe, KS Lenexa, KS Lee's Summit, MO Prairie Village, KS

Use this calculator to work out the amount of mulch you might require for your garden project, with results given in cubic yards, cubic feet, litres and number of mulch bags.

On this page:

How much mulch do I need?
How many cubic feet is in a yard of mulch?
How many 2 cubic feet bags of mulch make a yard?
How many 3 cubic feet bags of mulch make a yard?
How many 1.5 cubic feet bags of mulch make a yard?
Mulch coverage per bag
Guide to measuring and calculating mulch

How much mulch do I need?

Mulch is commonly sold in cubic yards. One cubic yard of mulch is enough to cover an area of 324 square feet at 1 inch of depth or 162 square feet at 2 inches of depth.

Coverage for 1 cubic yard of mulch

Desired depth	Sq.ft coverage	Approx coverage
1 inch	324 sq.ft	18' × 18'
2 inches	162 sq.ft	13' × 13'
3 inches	108 sq.ft	11' × 10'
4 inches	81 sq.ft	9' × 9'

Alongside a good kneeling mat and a horde of aphid-hungry ladybirds, mulch can be a gardener’s best friend. Usually made with bark chips (but sometimes also straw, rubber, hardwood or gravel), it’s the perfect top layer for flowerbeds: mulch keeps moisture in, deters nuisance weeds from sprouting out, and can provide a tidy-looking finish for bedded areas.

If you're wondering how to calculate the right amount of mulch needed for your garden, we're here to help. Assuming you know the square footage of the area needed to be covered, you can use this formula:

Mulch required (cubic yards) = Square footage × desired depth (in) / 324.

The above formula helps you find out how many cubic yards of mulch you might need, but you may be buying your mulch by the bag, which is commonly sold in cubic feet in the US and in liter/litre bags in the UK. So, let's look at some measurement conversions.

How many cubic feet is in a yard of mulch?

A cubic yard of mulch measures 27 cubic feet. A standard bag of mulch in the US holds 2 cubic feet. This means you need 13 1/2 bags to make up a cubic yard.

Mulch can be sold in both large and smaller-sized bags, so let's go through the most common sizes.

How many 2 cubic feet bags of mulch make a yard?

Most standard bags of mulch hold 2 cubic feet. As there are 27 cubic feet in a cubic yard, a cubic yard of mulch equates to 13 1/2 bags.

How many 3 cubic feet bags of mulch make a yard?

For bags of mulch measuring 3 cubic feet, a cubic yard of mulch will equate to 9 bags (there are 27 cubic feet in a yard).

How many 1.5 cubic feet bags of mulch make a yard?

For 1.5 cubic foot bags of mulch, a cubic yard of mulch equates to 18 bags (there are 27 cubic feet in a yard).

Summary of bag sizes for 1 cubic yard

To summarize, 1 yard of mulch equals:

27 bags of 1 cu.ft size.
18 bags of 1.5 cu.ft size.
13 1/2 bags of 2 cu.ft size.
9 bags of 3 cu.ft size.

If you want to manually calculate the number of bags of mulch you require to cover an area in square feet, here's how to do it...

Calculating from square feet

To calculate the number of bags you need to buy for an area of square feet, multiply your square feet figure by the depth of mulch required in inches, divide it by 12 and then divide it by the bag size (in cubic feet).

Bags of mulch = Square footage × desired depth (inches) / 12 / bag size (cu ft).

Mulch coverage per bag

To help you with your calculations, here's a quick chart of coverage for standard US mulch bag sizes for mulch depth of 1-4 inches. We'll then cover the process of measuring and calculating how much mulch you might need in more detail.

Coverage for 2 cu.ft bag of mulch

Desired depth	Coverage per bag
1 inch	24 sq.ft
2 inches	12 sq.ft
3 inches	8 sq.ft
4 inches	6 sq.ft

Coverage for 3 cu.ft bag of mulch

Desired depth	Coverage per bag
1 inch	36 sq.ft
2 inches	18 sq.ft
3 inches	12 sq.ft
4 inches	9 sq.ft

Coverage for 100 litre bag of mulch

In the UK, mulch is sold in litre bags. Here are conversions for 100 litre mulch bags.

Desired depth	Coverage per 100L bag
1 inch	42 sq.ft
2 inches	21 sq.ft
3 inches	14 sq.ft
4 inches	11 sq.ft

Guide to measuring and calculating mulch

Whether it’s a flower bed, playground or pathway, you need to know how much ground you’re aiming to cover with your mulch. Here's an in-depth guide on how to measure and calculate.

1) Measure your area

It's key that you work with the same unit the whole time: don’t measure one aspect in feet, another in inches, and the other in cm! US gardeners are safest with feet, whilst British gardeners should probably work in metres or centimetres, but just pick one and stick to it.

Measure the length and width of the area for mulching. If it’s too large for a tape measure, just lay a length of twine along each side, trimming to fit, and measure the pieces of twine afterwards to get their dimensions. If it’s an irregular shape, break it up into squares or rectangles and take their measurements individually. If it’s a circular area, you can treat it like a square that fits around the circle (don’t worry about the corners being extra; it’s always better to have some spare mulch anyway). If you want to get the precise area of your circle, though, use our square footage calculator here.

You also need to think about depth. If the mulch is going to be mainly decorative, then 2 inches is fine. If you’re hoping to retain moisture in a dry climate, or to block sunlight from reaching particularly persistent weeds, then you want 4 inches. If you’re not sure, take the middle ground and use 3 inches. Remember to use the same unit throughout your calculations, so convert inches to feet if that’s what you’re using.

2” = 0.17 feet or 0.051 metres
3” = 0.25 feet or 0.076 metres
4” = 0.33 feet or 0.102 metres

2) Do the math

To work out the volume of mulch you need, just multiply the three measurements together.

length × width × depth = volume

US imperial example

20ft × 8ft × 0.25ft = 40 cubic feet

UK metric example

6.09m × 2.44m × 0.076cm = 1.13 cubic metres

If you’ve taken individual measurements for an irregular shaped area, calculate the volume of each shape separately and then add the totals together to get your volume.

3) Check the sales unit

In the US, you might buy mulch by the cubic foot. If you followed the steps above using feet, then you already have the quantity worked out. If you’re buying a larger amount, it might be sold in cubic yards, so you may need to convert your volume:

cubic yards = cubic feet / 27
cubic feet = cubic inches / 1728

In the UK, mulch is usually sold in litres. One cubic meter is equivalent to 1000 litres, which is a common size for sacks of mulch. Additionally, each product typically lists its square-metre coverage, which means the shop has already factored in the depth. In this case, you simply multiply the width by the length of the ground, and use this area to compare with the product’s m² figure.

If you want to find out how much your mulch order is likely to weigh, we've got an article covering the weight of a cubic yard of mulch here.

So covering your garden is simple… Mulch ado about nothing, really!

For advice about the different types of mulch and tips for how to apply it, we recommend this article from Gardener's World.

To check your calculations, use the mulch calculator at the top of this page.

Calculator created by Alastair Hazell

How many square feet will 2 cubic ft of mulch cover?

Using 2 cubic foot bags:.

How many bags of 2 cubic feet mulch equal a yard?

Most bagged mulch is sold in 2 cubic foot bags. So, for every 13.5 bags, you need one cubic yard.

How big is a 2 cubic foot bag of mulch?

Compost mulch generally comes in a bag of 1 to 2 cubic foot that generally weigh around 44 lb per cubic foot. On average, a 2 cubic foot (Cu ft) bag of wood mulch can weigh 20 pounds and approximately cover 12 square feet at 2″ depth.