Garden soil is sold by the cubic foot (bags) and the cubic yard (bulk). Volume is length × width × depth, with depth converted from inches to feet.
An 8×4 ft bed eight inches deep is 21.33 cubic feet, or 0.79 cubic yards. One-cubic-foot bags are common; many “1.5 cu ft” and “0.75 cu ft” bags exist—enter the number printed on the bag.
For several beds, run the calculator once per bed and add the bag counts.
A gravel path or pad next to the bed uses the crushed stone calculator. New turf beside the soil is the grass seed calculator, and bed area itself can come from the square foot calculator.
How this calculation works
cu ft = L × W × (depth inches ÷ 12). cu yd = cu ft ÷ 27. Bags = ceil(cu ft ÷ bag size).