Raised Bed Soil Calculator
Box volume for garden beds — not a yard of lawn topsoil. Click any i for detail.
Boxes
Bed length (ft)
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Length
Inside length of one box. |
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Bed width (ft)
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Width
Inside width. A common 4×8 is 4 ft wide. |
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Fill depth (in)
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Depth
How deep you will fill. An 11-inch box often gets ~10–11 in of mix. |
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Number of beds
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Beds
Identical boxes. Different sizes need separate runs. |
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Waste (%)
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Waste
Settlement and topping off. 10% is a common adder. |
How to use this calculator
- Enter inside length and width.
- Set fill depth.
- Multiply by how many identical beds.
- Add waste for settling.
Results explained
Volume = L × W × (depth÷12) × beds, then ÷ 27 for yards. Lawn topdressing and bulk fill use the topsoil or dirt pages.
Quick reference: raised beds
A 4×8 × 11 in box is about 0.91 cubic yards net.
| Item | Detail |
|---|---|
| 4×8 × 11 in | ≈ 0.91 yd³ |
| Two of those + 10% | ≈ 2.01 yd³ |
| Mel’s mix | Volume still applies; recipe is yours |
| Bags (1.5 ft³) | Yards × 27 ÷ 1.5 |
Weed barrier and hardware cloth do not change soil yards.
How the estimate is built
cu ft = L × W × (in/12) × beds. cu yd = cu ft / 27 × (1+waste%).
Example scenario
One 8×4 ft bed, 11 in deep, 10% extra ≈ 1.0 yd³.
FAQ
Topsoil page instead?
That’s a thin spread over a lawn. This page is a box.
Tapered beds?
Use average width or split into rectangles.
Compost blend?
Order the same yards; the mix ratio is separate.