Soil Calculator: How Many Bags of Soil for Raised Garden Bed (2024)

Are you building a raised garden bed to plant your vegetable garden? Are you trying to figure out how many bags of soil to buy to fill your raised garden bed? Instead of manually doing the math yourself to calculate how many bags of soil you need for your raised garden bed, I’ve made it easy for you. I made a soil calculator for you!

Just fill in the measurements of the dimensions of your raised garden bed and the soil calculator below will compute the cubic feet of soil needed to fill your raised garden bed. You can also input the soil bag size you are buying and the soil calculator will calculate how many bags of soil you need to buy for your raised garden bed.

Soil Calculator: How Many Bags of Soil for Raised Garden Bed (1)

How to Calculate Soil Needed for Raised Garden Bed?

To calculate how much soil you need to fill your raised garden bed, you simply multiply the length, width, and height of the raised garden bed dimensions to get the total cubic feet of soil needed to fill your raised garden bed.

Just remember to convert your measurements to feet and not inches so you can get your calculations down to cubic feet.

Here is a beginner’s video tutorial to show you how to calculate the soil needed for your raised garden bed.

How Many Bags of Soil Do You Need for a 4 x 8 raised garden bed?

For a 4×8 raised garden bed, you will need 15 bags of soil (1.5 cubic feet per bag) or 21.44 cubic feet of soil. This is assuming your raised garden bed is 8 inches high and the bags of soil you are buying contains 1.5 cubic feet of soil per bag.

Soil Calculator: How Many Bags of Soil for Raised Garden Bed (2)

How Many Bags of Soil Do You Need for a 4 x 4 raised garden bed?

For a 4×4 raised garden bed, you will need 7 bags of soil (1.5 cubic feet per bag) or 10.72 cubic feet of soil. This is assuming your raised garden bed is 8 inches high and the bags of soil you are buying contains 1.5 cubic feet of soil per bag.

If you are a lazy gardener, check out our Beginner’s Guide: How to Start a Vegetable Garden for the Lazy Gardener

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How Many Bags of Soil Do You Need for a 4 x 2 raised garden bed?

For a 4×2 raised garden bed, you will need 4 bags of soil (1.5 cubic feet per bag) or 5.36 cubic feet of soil. This is assuming your raised garden bed is 8 inches high and the bags of soil you are buying contains 1.5 cubic feet of soil per bag.

How Many Bags of Soil Do You Need for an 8 x 2 raised garden bed?

For an 8×2 raised garden bed, you will need 7 bags of soil (1.5 cubic feet per bag) or 10.72 cubic feet of soil. This is assuming your raised garden bed is 8 inches high and the bags of soil you are buying contains 1.5 cubic feet of soil per bag.

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How Many Bags of Soil Do You Need for a 4 x 3 raised garden bed?

For a 4×3 feet raised garden bed, you will need 5 bags of soil (1.5 cubic feet per bag) or 8.04 cubic feet of soil. This is assuming your raised garden bed is 8 inches high and the bags of soil you are buying contains 1.5 cubic feet of soil per bag.

How Many Bags of Soil Do You Need for an 8 x 3 raised garden bed?

For an 8×3 feet raised garden bed, you will need 11 bags of soil (1.5 cubic feet per bag) or 16.08 cubic feet of soil. This is assuming your raised garden bed is 8 inches high and the bags of soil you are buying contains 1.5 cubic feet of soil per bag.

Soil Calculator: How Many Bags of Soil for Raised Garden Bed (5)

Raised Garden Bed Soil Calculator

To make it easier for you below is a Raised Garden Bed Soil Calculator. You can use the raised garden bed soil calculator to calculate how many bags of soil you need for your raised garden bed. The soil calculator will also calculate the total cubic feet of soil needed for your raised garden bed.

Just fill in the dimensions of your raised garden bed to easily calculate the number of bags of soil needed for your raised garden bed. Bags of soil are commonly sold in 0.75 cubic feet bags, 1 cubic feet bags, or 1.5 cubic feet bags, check how many cubic feet of soil comes in the bag you are buying so you can accurately input it into the soil calculator.

You may also like this calculator: How Many Bags of Mulch Do You Need? (Calculator)

Soil Calculator: How Many Bags of Soil for Raised Garden Bed (6)

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Soil Calculator: How Many Bags of Soil for Raised Garden Bed (2024)

FAQs

How many bags of soil for a raised bed? ›

As a rule of thumb, a 4' x 8' raised bed that is six inches deep requires approximately eight bags of soil while a 4' x 8' raised bed that is 12 inches deep requires approximately 16 bags of soil.

How much topsoil do I need for a 4x8 raised bed? ›

Doing so maintains soil health and depth. How much soil? For a 4x8–foot raised bed with a 10” height, about 1 cubic yard of soil is needed. For a 4x8-foot raised bed with a 6” height, using Mel's Mix: about 5 cubic feet each of compost, peat moss, and vermiculite is needed.

How do I calculate soil for a raised garden bed? ›

To calculate:
  1. Measure the length, width and height of your bed. (Unless the boards are very thick, don't worry about inside/outside measurements.) ...
  2. Multiply all the measurements together: 6 x 3 x 1.4 = 25.2 cubic feet.
  3. Divide the answer by 27 to get the number of cubic yards.

How do I calculate how many bags of soil I need? ›

Retailers usually sell soil and mulch by the 1 or 2 cubic feet amounts, but even if they don't, you can quickly determine how many bags to buy. Multiply the number of yards of material you need by 27 to find the total cubic feet, then divide by the number of cubic feet in the bag.

How to fill a raised garden bed on a budget? ›

Use the Lasagna Garden Method

To start, lay down sheets of cardboard or newspaper for weed suppression and then fill the raised bed structure halfway up with alternating layers of nitrogen-rich materials (like kitchen scraps and grass clippings) and carbon-rich materials (like wood chips and dried autumn leaves).

How many bags of soil does it take to fill a planter? ›

Size of Bag and Approximate Number of Pots It Fills
Pot type & sizeApproximate soil volume of pot*(dry quarts*)20-qt bag
12 inch5.5
14 inch8.4
16 inch12.0¾
18 inch18.81
26 more rows

How many cubic feet is a 50 pound bag of soil? ›

Consider a ½ cubic foot bag of stone or soil weighs about 50 lbs and will cover 2 square feet at 3" deep. A bag of hardwood or cedar bark contains about 1 cubic foot of material, enough to cover about 4 square feet at 3" deep. If you have large areas you probably need bulk.

Do you use topsoil in a raised garden bed? ›

Filling Raised Beds

We fill our beds with half compost and half topsoil. It's economical, the soil gives the plants' roots something to hold onto, and the compost feeds the plants.

How much do you fill a raised garden bed? ›

Width x Length x Height = Total cubic feet of fill material.

To illustrate my point, let's say you've got a new garden bed that is roughly 4 feet wide, 8 feet long, and 1 foot deep. The calculation for that bed would be simple: multiply 4 x 8 x 1 together, and you'll discover you'd need 32 cubic feet.

Is there a difference between garden soil and raised bed soil? ›

Add in fertilizer: The best soil for raised beds contains nutrients that promote growth. Raised bed soil is nutrient rich and contains a higher percentage of organic material than garden soil. However, you should also add additional organic fertilizer throughout the growing season to ensure a productive harvest.

How much soil is in one bag? ›

A 40 pound bag of topsoil usually contains about 0.75 Cubic Feet of soil.

How much area does one bag of soil cover? ›

Retailers like garden centers and home improvement stores usually sell topsoil in 40 pound bags. One bag will cover an area of 12 square feet to an depth of inch. Topsoil is sold under many different brand names and content can differ. Generally, the more organic material in the product, the higher the cost.

How deep should a raised garden bed be? ›

Vegetable Beds: On the other hand, when it comes to vegetable beds, the bed must be approximately 12 to 18 inches deep to ensure adequate depth for the roots of your plants. This is especially important if your raised bed is placed on cement or the patio, which will inhibit roots from growing deeper into the ground.

What is the best soil for raised beds? ›

Topsoil should be dark and crumbly with an earthy smell. Do not purchase soil that is very high in sand or clay, foul-smelling, or has grayish mottling or a chalky, sticky, or rough texture. Some sellers have a mix of topsoil and compost which can make an excellent growing media for raised beds.

How many cubic feet are in a 40 lb bag of soil? ›

A 40 pound bag of topsoil usually contains about 0.75 Cubic Feet of soil.

How deep should soil be in raised garden bed? ›

They should have at least 8 inches of soil depth to accommodate the root systems of plants, because the majority of plant roots require 6 – 8 inches of soil for healthy root growth. A depth of 8 – 12 inches will suffice for most gardening situations.

What is the mix ratio for raised garden beds? ›

Add a mixture of compost and purchased topsoil in a 1:2 or 1:1 ratio, to the top of the bed. There are vendors who sell topsoil mixed with compost. Alternatively, fill the bed with compost and a soilless growing mix in a 1:1 ratio.

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