Gravel and mulch calculator
Measure your bed, path, or yard, choose a depth, and pick one of nine landscaping materials to get a clear estimate of how much you need. This calculator handles rectangles, circles, and multi part shapes like an L-shaped bed, and it gives you the answer in cubic yards, cubic feet, bag counts for both 2 cubic foot and 3 cubic foot bags, wheelbarrow loads, and estimated weight in tons. Nothing is sent anywhere and nothing reloads: change a number and the results update immediately.
Add one zone for a simple rectangle or circle bed, or add more zones for an L-shaped or multi-part project. Pick a depth and a material and the results update as you type.
Tools and supplies for this project
Once you know your quantity, here is the kind of equipment most mulch and gravel projects call for. Links go to Amazon.
- Bagged mulch for topping up small beds or matching a specific color to an existing bed.
- Garden landscape fabric to lay under mulch or gravel and slow weed growth.
- Garden bed edging to keep mulch or gravel contained along the bed line.
- Wheelbarrow sized to match the number of loads this calculator gives you.
- Garden rake for spreading and leveling mulch, gravel, or soil once it is delivered.
As an Amazon Associate, Gravel and Mulch Calculator earns from qualifying purchases made through these links, at no extra cost to you. These links point to categories of product, not a specific brand endorsement; pick the option that fits your project and budget.
Why material choice changes the number
A generic volume calculator tells you how many cubic yards fit a given area and depth, but it stops there. The actual number of bags you carry home, and the weight your truck or trailer needs to handle, depends on which material you are moving. A cubic yard of dry wood mulch weighs a few hundred pounds; a cubic yard of gravel or sand weighs well over a ton. This calculator carries a separate density for each of the nine materials listed above, so the bag count and weight figures are specific to what you actually plan to buy, not a generic average that happens to be close for one material and badly wrong for another.
What the free Depth Cheat Sheet adds
Once you know roughly what you need, the free Depth Cheat Sheet is a one page printable reference with the depth recommendation for common project types, mulch beds, pathways, under trees, vegetable gardens, and drainage areas, alongside how far one cubic yard stretches at that depth. It is meant to live in your glove box or garage during the project, not just on a screen.
What The Landscape Material Planner adds
For a full project across several zones, the paid Landscape Material Planner goes well beyond a single calculation: pre-built coverage tables for all nine materials at many depths, a density and weight reference for comparing supplier quotes, a method for measuring an irregular bed by hand, a budget grid for tracking multiple zones, a delivery checklist, and a full comparison of bagged versus bulk buying with the point where bulk becomes the better deal.
Guides for specific materials and projects
If you already know you are working with a particular material or project type, the guides below go into more depth than the calculator alone: how much mulch a typical bed needs, how bagged mulch converts to cubic yards, how much a yard of gravel actually weighs, how deep to lay mulch by use case, sizing gravel for a path, and using soil, compost, or sand calculators for the specific job in front of you.