How Much Mulch for 700 Square Feet?
Material needed
6.48 cubic yards
700 square feet at 3 inches deep, bark mulch at roughly 800 lb per cubic yard.
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How that number is worked out
These are the figures this page was built with and every line the calculator produces from them. Change anything above and all of it moves.
- Bed area700 sq ft
- Depth3 in
- MaterialMulch
Material needed6.48 cubic yards
| Volume | 175 cu ft |
|---|---|
| Cubic yards | 6.48most yards sell in half yard steps |
| Order in half yards | 6.5 cu yd |
| 2 cu ft bags, if bagging it | 88 |
| Approximate weight | 5,185 lb (2.59 tons) |
The material list this produces
| Material, cubic yards | 6.5 |
|---|---|
| Landscape fabric, sq ft | 700 |
| Edging, linear ft | 106 |
Depth compared
Depth is the whole calculation. Two inches will not suppress weeds, six inches will suffocate roots.
| Depth | Material needed | Order in half yards |
|---|---|---|
| 2 in | 4.32 cubic yards | 4.5 cu yd |
| 3 in | 6.48 cubic yards | 6.5 cu yd |
| 4 in | 8.64 cubic yards | 9 cu yd |
| 6 in | 12.96 cubic yards | 13 cu yd |
What else matters here
Six and a half yards is a contractor sized order, and it is worth pricing it as a contractor would. Material at bulk rate plus two people for a day is usually less than half what a landscaping company quotes for the same beds, and the gap is labor and overhead rather than mulch.
If you are the one quoting it, the labor is the number to get right. Spreading runs somewhere around one to one and a half yards per person per hour on open beds, and far slower where there is edging to cut, plants to work around and a long barrow run from the pile.
Edge first, then mulch. Cutting a clean edge after the mulch is down means throwing soil onto fresh mulch and picking it back out, which takes longer than the edging did.
What this calculator assumes
- Three inches is the usual mulch depth. Two is thin and will not hold weeds down, four starts to smother shallow roots and holds water against trunks.
- Weights are approximate and vary with moisture: mulch about 800 lb per cubic yard, topsoil 2200, gravel 2800, sand 2700.
- Bagged material is sold in 2 cubic foot bags, and there are 13.5 of those in a cubic yard.
Questions people ask
How much mulch for 700 square feet?
About 6.48 cubic yards at 3 inches deep, or 88 bags at 2 cubic feet each.
How much does a landscaper charge to spread mulch?
It varies by market, but the labor is normally a much bigger share of the bill than the material. Pricing it yourself means pricing hours, not yards.
How fast can one person spread mulch?
Roughly one to one and a half cubic yards an hour on open beds, and considerably less around dense planting or with a long wheelbarrow run.
The mulch and gravel calculator takes any dimensions you like and hands back the same list.