How much soil do I need in my raised garden bed?
Raised garden beds are perfect for growing vegetables and flowers. But if you’re thinking about installing a raised garden bed in your front- or backyard, then you’re probably asking yourself, “How much soil do I need in my raised garden bed?”
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Luckily for you, we have a very simple answer to that question. But before we get into that, let’s discuss what you need to consider before determining how much soil to use in your raised garden bed.
Design your raised garden bed.
First things first, you need to design your raised garden bed. This will help you answer the question, “How much soil do I need in my raised garden bed?”
Here are a few questions you need to answer, so you can accurately determine how much soil to use in your raised garden bed:
- What shape will your raised garden bed be?
- How big (and deep) do you want your garden bed to be (what will the dimensions be)?
- How many plants do you want in your garden bed?
- What type of plants do you plan on planting in your garden bed?
- Where do you want to install your raised garden bed?
Pro Tip: If you aren’t starting from scratch, you’ll still need to amend and add soil (just not as much).
Determine what type of soil combination you want to use.
Do you want organic or non-organic soil? Have you considered different brands of soil? What about adding compost? And if you are planning on adding compost, what type and mixture of compost?
There are many different brands, types, and combinations to consider, so you really need to do your homework to make sure you’re getting the right materials and the right proportions.
For example, many people will use a combination of topsoil, compost, and potting mix — often at a 60/30/10 ratio. From here, you can figure out the type and brand of soil you’ll be using. And then from there, how much of each material you’ll require to successfully install your raised garden bed.
Figure out how much soil you need.
So now that you know what type of raised garden bed you want and what combination of soils you’ll be using, it’s finally time to answer the question, “How much soil do I need in my raised garden bed?”
At this point, it’s time to dive into … yup, you guessed it … a math equation. The standard equation is length times width times height. Afterward, you have to convert the calculation into cubic feet to determine how many bags of material you actually need. And this all only gets more confusing once you factor in the different types of products you need —- because then you need different proportions of products.
However, instead of doing all that math, we recommend using a soil calculator, like the one from Planting Pal.
Planting Pal, an easy-to-use soil calculator, is the simplest way to accurately determine how much soil you need to use in your raised garden bed. All you need to do is enter the size and shape of your raised garden bed, and Planting Pal will do the rest of the work for you — calculating how much soil you need to properly install a raised garden bed in your yard.
Final thoughts
Make sure you take measurements before you go to the garden center. Do this and the garden center you choose to visit will have everything it needs to successfully narrow down product quantities. And if they’re using Planting Pal, this entire process will be fast, accurate, and math-free!
Planting Pal is an amendment calculator that uses the recommendations of local garden centers to get you the right product and quantities you need to successfully plant. Simply input your location and your measurements and Planting Pal will do the rest of the work for you — no math, no guessing, no grey areas.
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