Raised Bed Soil Calculator

Calculate how much soil your raised bed needs, convert it to bags or cubic yards, and compare buying options.

Free · No signup · US customary units supported

Your project

Add your raised beds

What are you doing?

Enter the soil depth you plan to put in each new bed.

Bed 1

Length
Width

Not sure what depth to use? Read our raised-bed depth guide.

Example dimensions only—not a soil-depth recommendation.

Add an allowance?

Optional extra to cover small measurement differences, spills, or settling. Choose the amount you want included in your buying plan.

Enter valid bed measurements to calculate your soil plan.

Your soil plan

A buying answer, not just a formula.

Add your dimensions to see cubic feet, cubic yards, whole bags, and buying costs.

Your results will appear here

We keep the measured volume separate from the quantity you plan to buy.

Cost plannerCompare bags vs bulkAdd your local prices and delivery fee.

Calculate your soil plan first. Then add the prices you were quoted.

Local suppliers may round quantities or have minimum delivery requirements. Confirm the final order, bag size, and delivery fee with your supplier.

Want to check the math? Read our methodology.

How it works

From measurements to a shopping plan

  1. 1. Calculate each bed. Length × width × soil depth gives cubic feet.
  2. 2. Add the project total. Different bed sizes are combined without rounding the internal result.
  3. 3. Plan the purchase. Your allowance is added, then bags are rounded up to a whole number.

Worked example

A 4 ft × 8 ft bed at 12 in deep

The calculated volume is 32 cubic feet, or about 1.19 cubic yards. With 1.5 cu ft bags and no allowance, the shopping plan is 22 whole bags.

This is a math example, not a recommendation for how deep your bed should be.

See the full 4×8 depth table →

Transparent math

See every rule behind the result.

Read our methodology