Mulch
How Many Bags of Mulch Are in a Yard?
A cubic yard of mulch is 27 cubic feet, which equals 13.5 bags of 2 cu ft (buy 14), 9 bags of 3 cu ft or 18 bags of 1.5 cu ft.
By Kumar Baniya, MEng in Structural Engineering (University of Leeds) · Published
How many 2 cubic foot bags of mulch are in a yard?
13.5 bags, so you buy 14. A yard of mulch — a cubic yard — is 27 cubic feet, and 27 ÷ 2 = 13.5. With 3 cu ft bags it is exactly 9 bags.
How many cubic feet are in a yard of mulch?
A yard of mulch is 27 cubic feet: the space inside a cube 3 ft × 3 ft × 3 ft. It is the same for every material — mulch, soil or gravel — because a “yard” sold by a supplier means a cubic yard of volume.
How many bags of each size make a cubic yard?
| Bag size | Cubic feet per bag | Bags per cubic yard | Bags to buy |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 cu ft | 1.000 | 27.00 | 27 |
| 1.5 cu ft | 1.500 | 18.00 | 18 |
| 2 cu ft | 2.000 | 13.50 | 14 |
| 3 cu ft | 3.000 | 9.00 | 9 |
| 40 L | 1.413 | 19.11 | 20 |
| 50 L | 1.766 | 15.29 | 16 |
| 56 L | 1.978 | 13.65 | 14 |
Use the volume printed on the bag. Bags labeled in liters are converted with 1 ft³ = 28.316846592 L.
How many yards is a given number of bags?
Multiply the bags by the cubic feet per bag and divide by 27. Sixty 2 cu ft bags are 120 ft³ = 4.44 yd³; twenty 3 cu ft bags are 60 ft³ = 2.22 yd³.
How many bags of mulch do I need for my bed?
Cubic feet = square feet × depth (in) ÷ 12; divide by the bag size and round up. With 2 cu ft bags:
| Bed area | At 2 in | At 3 in |
|---|---|---|
| 50 sq ft | 5 bags | 7 bags |
| 100 sq ft | 9 bags | 13 bags |
| 150 sq ft | 13 bags | 19 bags |
| 200 sq ft | 17 bags | 25 bags |
| 300 sq ft | 25 bags | 38 bags |
A 10 × 10 ft bed at 3 in is 100 sq ft and needs 25 ft³ — 13 bags of 2 cu ft.
Is it cheaper to buy mulch in bags or in bulk?
It depends on your local prices, the supplier’s minimum order and the delivery fee, so there is no universal answer. Bags are rounded up to whole bags; bulk is often rounded up to the supplier’s increment and may carry a delivery charge. Enter both quotes in the bulk vs bags cost calculator to see which costs less for your exact volume.
Related calculations
To find how many yards your beds need in the first place, see how much a yard of mulch covers or use the mulch calculator. If you are weighing bags against bulk delivery, the bulk vs bags cost calculator compares your two quotes.