Project guide
Mulch bed
The least you can spend on a bed for the most it gives back: less watering, fewer weeds, cooler soil.
- TimeHalf a day for a typical front bed
- DifficultyEasy, no tools you cannot borrow
How much mulch do I need?
- Colored mulch at 3 inches: one cubic yard covers about 108 square feet at 3 inches, so 300 square feet takes about 3 cubic yards (roughly 1.2 tons).
- Compost at 1 inch: one cubic yard covers about 324 square feet at 1 inch, so 300 square feet takes about 1 cubic yard (roughly 0.8 tons).
What the job involves
Clearing the bed, edging it so the mulch stays in it, spreading mulch to an even depth, and keeping it off the stems. Half a day for a normal front bed, most of it spent clearing rather than spreading.
What you need, and roughly how much
Colored mulch
The mulch itself
3 inches planting beds, trees and shrubs
Colored, natural, cedar and bark are all organic mulches and all do the same job at the same depth: 3 inches for wood chips and bark, within a range of 2 to 4 inches. More is not better.
One cubic yard covers about 108 square feet at 3 inches, so 300 square feet takes about 3 cubic yards (roughly 1.2 tons).
Does the same job at this layer: Natural mulch, Cedar mulch, Bark.
5 listed yards publish a price for this.
Compost
Optional, under the mulch on a bed you feed
1 inch top-dressing an established bed, per year
About 1 inch a year, top-dressed on an established bed, keeps it going. A new bed takes more, worked into the soil rather than laid on top — that is the shrubs guide's job. Skip it if you are only topping up.
One cubic yard covers about 324 square feet at 1 inch, so 300 square feet takes about 1 cubic yard (roughly 0.8 tons).
4 listed yards publish a price for this.
What else you will need
- A wheelbarrow and a garden fork or mulch fork. A shovel works and is slower.
- Steel or plastic edging, if the bed has no hard edge. Not sold here; a hardware store carries it.
- A tarp, if the load is going on a driveway rather than into a truck bed.
How to do it
- Pull the weeds, roots and all, before anything goes down.
- Put in an edge if there is not one, so the mulch stays in the bed and the lawn stays out.
- If you are feeding the bed, spread compost about 1 inch and scratch it into the surface.
- Spread the mulch to an even 3 inches, working out of the wheelbarrow with a fork rather than tipping and raking.
- Pull it back a hand's width from every stem and trunk.
- Water it in so it settles and knits rather than blowing about.
Common mistakes
Piling it against the stems
Mulch touching bark keeps it wet and invites decay, and some mulches close to a stem shelter rodents that chew it. Pull it back a hand's width from every stem and trunk.
Going deeper than the range
Deeper does not mean longer-lasting. Mulch that is too deep weakens trees and shrubs and stops water and air reaching the soil. Stay inside 2 to 4 inches.
Laying plastic or fabric underneath
Plastic stops water and air as well as weeds. Woven fabric lets a little through at first, clogs, and then does the same — and weeds root into the top of it anyway. Correctly applied mulch does not need either.
Yards near you that carry it
600 listed yards carry mulch; 288 listed yards carry compost. Set your area and the nearest come first, by distance and never by price. Every yard, by state · Colored mulch prices · Compost prices