Computing yards of soil

I am trying to figure out how many yards of soil I need for my gardens but have no idea how much a yard of soil actually is. The nursery says they deliver 6 yards in a dump truck. I realize that a yard is 3 feet. But what is a yard of soil - is that 3 feet long and 3 feet high? I'm clueless! lol

Well, you stumped me, but this is what I googled and got

27 cubic feet.

Answer

A yard of soil, or any bulk material is 1 cubic yard. For soil it is usually one bucketful at the landscape supply. It will typically cover a 12' x 12' area, 3 - 4" deep. If you are figuring for mulch you can use the same measurements. It is a measure of volume, not weight.

Hope this helps a bit, I have trouble visualizing this kind of thing myself, so I can relate.

doc

DUH!!!!!!!! lol I looked in the Gardenology section and found my answer - thanks anyway

No problem.......LOL Never a dull moment in the garden!!1

Hey doccat - thanks - it is very hard to visualize! for me anyway. The Gardenology section says a cubic yard is 3' x 3' x 3'. That kinda helps me - I like the info you have that tells you how much it covers - that helps me to visualize it better. Oh BTW - this is my new name - was formerly "epb" - Thanks again!

No problem, I got the same problem with other types of these math problems.....sigh Not my strong suit.......LOL

remember the soil you buy will settle after a while so dont worry if that does happen, even when you dig the borders and the soil looks nice and high, it settles down again, my maths ain't good either, I just tell the guy how long the border is, how wide and deep I want the soil to be and he does the rest, good luck and happy gardening. WeeNel,

Good points. Converting between cubic feet and square feet of coverage isn't too hard... One cubic foot basically covers one square foot, 12 inches deep/high. If you want it (soil, mulch, compost, etc.) to be 6 inches deep, then one cubic foot will cover 2 square feet.

To calculate square foot coverage from cubic yards, do this: Multiply the number of cubic yards by 324 (which is 27 times 12). Now divide by the number of inches of depth you plan to spread the material. This gives you the number of square feet the material will cover at that depth.

To calculate how many cubic yards you need for a given area (in square feet), first measure the area. The number of square feet is equal to the length (in feet) times the width (in feet) for a rectangular area. Take the area (in square feet) and divide it by 324. Now multiply that number by the number of inches of depth you plan to spread the material. This tells you how many cubic yards you'll need to cover that area at that depth.

Just to give you an idea, 1 cubic yard will cover 100 square feet to a depth of a little over 3 inches. If you want about a foot of depth over 100 square feet, you'll need 4 cubic yards.