One yard of mulch covers about 100 square feet at 3 inches deep. That's the number to hang onto, and it answers most of "how much mulch do I need" before you even pick up a tape measure. Measure your beds, divide the square footage by 100, and you've got your yards. The rest of this is just the details that keep you from ordering too little or too much.
We sell mulch by the yard, make our own right here in Delta, and deliver within 25 miles or you can pick up at the yard.
The coverage math
A cubic yard is 27 cubic feet of material. Spread that over a bed at 3 inches deep, the standard depth for most landscape beds, and it covers roughly 100 square feet. Go shallower and it stretches further, go deeper and it covers less.
Here's how depth changes coverage for a single yard:
- 2 inches deep: about 160 square feet
- 3 inches deep: about 100 square feet
- 4 inches deep: about 80 square feet
Three inches is the sweet spot for most beds. It's enough to hold moisture and keep weeds down without smothering plant roots or piling up against trunks.
How to measure your beds
For a square or rectangular bed, multiply length by width to get square feet. A bed that's 20 feet long and 5 feet wide is 100 square feet, so one yard at 3 inches deep does it.
Curvy or odd-shaped beds are easier than they look. Just break them into rough rectangles in your head, measure each chunk, and add them up. You don't need to be precise to the inch. Mulch coverage is forgiving, and a little extra never hurts.
Once you've got your total square footage, divide by 100. That's your yards at 3 inches. If you'd rather not do the arithmetic, the mulch page has a calculator that does it for you.
A real example
Say you've got three beds: a 200 square foot bed across the front of the house, two side beds at 75 square feet each, plus a 150 square foot island bed by the driveway. That's 500 square feet total.
Five hundred divided by 100 is 5 yards at 3 inches deep. If the beds already have a thin layer from last year and you're just topping off to freshen the color, you might get away with 2 inches, which would drop you closer to 3 yards. Topping off versus starting fresh makes a real difference in what you order.
Why bulk beats bags
If you're covering anything more than a tiny bed, bulk by the yard is the better buy. One yard of mulch equals about 13 or 14 of those 2 cubic foot bags from the store. By the time you've hauled, opened, and recycled all that plastic, you've spent more money and a lot more of your Saturday. Bulk gets dumped in one pile and you're done shopping.
Because we make our own mulch, you're getting it fresh and consistent load to load. You can see the colors and the rest of what we carry on the materials page.
A couple of practical tips
- Order a little extra. Beds settle and you'll find spots you forgot. An extra half yard beats coming up short on the last bed.
- Don't pile it on the trunks. Keep mulch a few inches back from stems and trunks. Mounding it up against the bark traps moisture and invites rot.
- Refresh, don't bury. If old mulch is still 2 inches deep, you only need an inch or so on top. No sense paying to double up.
Work out your square footage, divide by 100, and you've got your yards. If you want a second set of eyes on the estimate or you're ready to schedule delivery, call us at (419) 825-5956 and we'll get a load headed your way.
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