Mulch & gravel calculator
Your bed holds two yards
of bark. Or 0.64 of gravel.
The difference is not the bed — it is the payload sticker. Pick a material, set a depth, and this gives you cubic yards, tons, bags or truck trips, whichever way you are buying it.
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Depth by material
Common conventions. Bed shape and what you are covering both move them.
Mulch, 3 inches
Deep enough to hold moisture and suppress weeds, shallow enough not to smother roots. Keep it clear of trunks and stems rather than piling against them.
Gravel and stone, 2 to 3 inches
Over a compacted base. Decorative stone can go shallower; a driveway surface needs more, over a proper sub-base.
Topsoil and compost, 2 to 3 inches
For a top dressing. A new bed being built up from scratch is a different calculation entirely.
Base rock, 4 inches or more
And specified compacted — see below, because this is where orders come up short.
Weight is the limit, not space
This is the number nobody calculates and the one most worth having. A half-ton pickup with a two cubic yard bed and an 1,800 lb payload will take two full yards of shredded bark, because bark runs about 700 lb per yard and the bed fills before the axle notices.
Fill the same bed level with pea gravel at about 2,800 lb per yard and you are carrying 5,600 lb — roughly three times the rated payload. The safe load is around 0.64 yards, which looks like a nearly empty bed and feels wrong.
Payload varies by hundreds of pounds with cab, engine and options, so the figure that matters is on the sticker in your door jamb, not a class average. The calculator seeds a preset and then lets you overtype it.
Compaction, and bulk versus bags
Base rock and decomposed granite are specified at compacted depth, and loose material loses roughly a quarter of its volume going down. Order the compacted figure and you finish a run short. The calculator adds that allowance for those materials and shows it on the depth line so it is not a hidden fudge.
On bulk versus bags, the delivery fee decides it more than the volume does. Two cubic yards at $40 a yard plus a $75 delivery is $155, against roughly 27 bags at $4 for $108 — bags win. Twenty yards is not close, and bags stop being physically sensible long before the price does.
Most yards also have a minimum delivery, often one to three yards. Below it you are paying for material you do not get.
Common questions
How many cubic yards of mulch do I need?
Multiply the bed area in square feet by the depth in feet, then divide by 27. A 200 ft² bed at 3 inches deep is 200 × 0.25 = 50 cubic feet, which is about 1.85 cubic yards.
How much mulch fits in a pickup truck?
For light material like shredded bark, roughly two cubic yards in a standard half-ton bed. For gravel or stone the limit is weight, not space — a bed of pea gravel can be three times the truck's rated payload, so the safe load is well under one cubic yard.
How much does a yard of gravel weigh?
Pea gravel and crushed stone typically run 2,700 to 2,800 lb per cubic yard, and crusher run closer to 3,200. Shredded bark is around 700. Wet material weighs considerably more than dry, so treat any figure as approximate.
Is bulk cheaper than bagged mulch?
It depends on the delivery fee more than the volume. Below about a cubic yard bags usually win once delivery is counted; above two or three yards bulk wins clearly. Most yards also have a minimum delivery of one to three yards.
How deep should mulch be?
Three inches is the usual depth — enough to hold moisture and suppress weeds without smothering roots. Gravel and decorative stone typically go two to three inches over a compacted base.
The rest of the toolbox
One measurement, then whichever material you are buying. Every tool reads the same ledger.