Mulch Calculator
Work out how much bark or wood mulch to buy for your beds. Get cubic yards, litres and bags, in feet or metres.
Measure your project
Your answer
That is 1.42 m³ and weighs about 0.41 tonnes.
If you buy bags
Keep mulch 16 cm (6 in) away from trunks and stems, say Halton Master Gardeners.
Which costs less?
This price is for picking it up yourself. Add a delivery fee in "Change prices" if they bring it.
Mulch: $65 a cubic yard, the middle of 19 Canadian yards (Oct 2026). Pickup price, before delivery and tax. 42.5 L bag: $4, from 9.4¢ a litre, the middle of 13 prices at only 3 Ontario stores.
Quick answers
- Litres in a yard of mulch
- 764.6 litres. A cubic yard is also 27 cubic feet.
- Bags in a yard
- 18 bags of 42.5 L, or 13.5 bags of 56.6 L.
- How deep
- 5–8 cm (2–3 in), say Halton Master Gardeners in Ontario.
- What a yard covers
- 108 sq ft at 3 in deep, or 162 sq ft at 2 in.
- Mulch price
- About $65 a cubic yard, the middle of 19 yards. A 42.5 L bag is about $4 at only 3 Ontario stores. Before tax.
How to work it out
- Measure each bed in feet. Length × width is the square feet.
- Multiply by the depth in inches and divide by 324. That is cubic yards.
- For bags, multiply the cubic yards by 764.6 to get litres. Then divide by the bag size.
- Round the bags up. Mulch does not pack down, so you need no extra for that.
20 × 10 = 200 sq ft
200 × 3 ÷ 324 = 1.85 cubic yards
1.85 × 764.6 = 1,416 litres
1,416 ÷ 42.5 = 33.3, so 34 bags
How deep to put down mulch
Two Canadian sources give a depth for mulch. One of them also warns against a layer that is too thick.
| Use | Metric | Inches |
|---|---|---|
| Most beds (Halton) | 5–8 cm | 2–3 in |
| New garden (West Coast Gardens) | 7.5–10 cm | 3–4 in |
| Top-up layer (West Coast Gardens) | 2.5–5 cm | 1–2 in |
| Compost used as mulch (Halton) | 2–3 cm at most | 0.8–1.2 in |
Keep it off trunks
Halton Master Gardeners say to keep mulch 16 cm (6 in) from the base of trees and plants.
They also say a layer over 10 cm (4 in) can start to shed water. For a top-up, West Coast Gardens uses 1–2 in.
Plastic or fabric under mulch?
Skip them, says Colorado State Extension. Plastic lets no air or water into the soil. Woven weed fabric clogs over time, and weeds root into it.
Colorado State says mulch at the right depth needs no fabric, newspaper or cardboard under it.
Penn State says plastic and woven fabric block worms, water and soil microbes. Over time, roots grow above and below them.
Litres, bags and wheelbarrows in a yard of mulch
Canadian stores sell mulch in two common sizes. Bags show litres, and some show cubic feet too.
| Bag | Per cubic yard | Per m³ | Price per bag |
|---|---|---|---|
| 42.5 L (1.5 cu ft) | 18 | 23.5 | $4 (worked out) |
| 56.6 L (2 cu ft) | 13.5 | 17.7 | $4 (shelf) |
42.5 L: worked out at 9.4¢ a litre, the middle of 13 prices at only 3 Ontario stores. 56.6 L: the middle shelf price, 5 prices at only 2 Toronto stores. Before tax, Oct 2026. October prices may be end-of-season.
A 42.5 L bag is light. One cedar mulch bag weighs 10.5 kg.
Some store pages print a bag coverage that is far too low. Work it out from the litres on the bag instead.
Wheelbarrow loads
Mulch is light, so you can fill the barrow. A full 6 cubic foot contractor barrow (a US maker's size) weighs only about 50 kg.
So count full loads: 27 ÷ 6 = 4.5, about 5 per cubic yard. One barrow is about 0.17 m³, so a m³ takes about 6.
How much ground a yard or a bag covers
Find your depth, then read across. For a circle of mulch around a tree, tap "Round" on the area.
| Depth | One cubic yard | One 42.5 L bag | One 56.6 L bag |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 in (25 mm) | 324 sq ft | 18 sq ft | 24 sq ft |
| 2 in (51 mm) | 162 sq ft | 9 sq ft | 12 sq ft |
| 3 in (76 mm) | 108 sq ft | 6 sq ft | 8 sq ft |
Bulk Direct, a Calgary yard, says a yard covers 100 sq ft at 3 in. The full sum is 108 sq ft.
What mulch costs in Canada
The same yard of mulch costs a different amount in bags, loose or in a big bag.
| How you buy it | Price | Based on |
|---|---|---|
| Store bags (18 × 42.5 L) | $72 | 9.4¢ a litre: 13 prices, only 3 Ontario stores |
| Loose, yard pickup | $65 | 19 yards |
| Bulk bag (1 cubic yard), delivered | $186.48 | 8 prices, 4 sellers |
Before tax. The bag price is from Ontario stores. Yard prices come from sellers across Canada.
| Item | Quebec | Prairies | Atlantic | Ontario, BC, Alberta |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mulch | $75 (2) | $66.50 (4) | $70 (4) | $60 (9) |
Pickup prices. Brackets show the number of yards. Under 4 yards means a weak price.
For the example bed
The 10 × 20 ft bed needs 34 bags of 42.5 L, about $136 at Ontario store prices. Loose mulch is about $120, at $65 a cubic yard (the middle of 19 yards). Both are before delivery and tax.
Mulch is light to deliver
A yard of mulch weighs only about 220 kg. So a small truck can bring more mulch than soil.
One Quebec yard takes 3 yards of soil or 4 of mulch per trip. A Nova Scotia yard takes 3.5 yards of stone, but 5–6 of mulch.
Questions people ask
How much mulch do I need for a 200 sq ft garden?
At 3 in deep, about 1.85 cubic yards: square feet × inches ÷ 324. In bags, that is 34 bags of 42.5 L.
How many litres are in a yard of mulch?
764.6 litres. One m³ is 1,000 litres, so a cubic yard is a bit smaller than a m³.
How many bags of mulch are in a yard?
18 bags of 42.5 L (1.5 cu ft). With 56.6 L (2 cu ft) bags, it is 13.5, so buy 14.
How much will a yard of mulch cover?
108 sq ft at 3 in deep, and 162 sq ft at 2 in. One Calgary yard rounds the first to 100 sq ft.
How much does a 2 cu ft bag of mulch cover?
About 12 sq ft at 2 in deep, or 8 sq ft at 3 in. In Canada this bag is sold as 56.6 L.
How deep should mulch be?
Halton Master Gardeners say 5–8 cm (2–3 in). Over 10 cm, it can start to shed water.
Do I need to remove old mulch?
Not always. Check the depth first, says Penn State Extension, and remove some old mulch if needed. Keep the total at 2–4 in (Penn State), or 3 in or less (University of Maryland).
How much does a yard of mulch weigh?
About 0.22 tonnes, or 220 kg (about 490 pounds). That is the middle of 5 Canadian figures. They run from 0.12 (a dry, packed bale) to 0.36 tonnes.
Where our numbers come from
- Mulch depth: Halton Master Gardeners (5–8 cm)
- Mulch depth and weights: West Coast Gardens (BC)
- Old mulch: Penn State Extension
- Too much mulch: University of Maryland Extension
- Plastic or fabric under mulch: Colorado State Extension
- Fabric under mulch or stone: Penn State Extension
- Wheelbarrow size: Jackson M6T22 contractor wheelbarrow holds 6 cubic feet (maker's page)
- Wheelbarrow sizes: AMES range (Jackson, True Temper, UnionTools), mostly 6 cu ft
- Weights per cubic yard: Canadian yards and producers (few sources each)
- Bag sizes sold in Canada (soil, mulch)
- Store prices: Ontario Home Depot, RONA, Home Hardware and Chamberlain Timber Mart (Oct 2026)
- Loose prices: the middle of up to 23 Canadian yards (Oct 2026)
- Loose prices by region: Quebec, Prairies, Atlantic, Ontario/BC/Alberta
- 1 cubic yard bulk bags, delivered: 4 Canadian sellers per product (Garden Bag, Walmart.ca, RONA, Mygardenbag)
- Delivery fees (7 Canadian yards); loads up to 22.9 tonnes (LBL, Almonte ON)
- Mulch cover: Bulk Direct Landscape Supply (Calgary)
- Quebec yards: bulk calculators (tonne, packing)
- Unit sizes: NIST Handbook 44, Appendix C (1 ft = 0.3048 m; 1 US gallon = 231 cubic inches)
Made by BuildersCount. Last checked 4 Oct 2026.
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