SettingsSettings for this calculationUS
The length of the raised bed.
4 ft (1.2 m) is a common raised bed length, often built to a standard lumber dimension.
The width of the raised bed.
4 ft (1.2 m) is common — narrow enough to reach the center from either side without stepping in.
The depth of soil you're filling, which may be less than the full bed wall height.
12 in (30 cm) is a common minimum depth for most vegetables; deeper beds suit root vegetables better.
Soil bags needed
11 x 1.5 ft³ bags
- Soil volume
- 15.67 ft³
They open the calculator with your figures already in it
Raised Garden Bed Soil Calculator: 11 x 1.5 ft³ bags — shown in imperial, US market. The link sets both, so the result they see is the one on your screen.
Show calculation logicHide calculation logic
How this was calculated
Formula source(s)
- Soil volume = bed length x width x height; a standard bagged garden soil or potting mix bag holds about 1.5 cubic ft in North America, while metric markets sell compost and topsoil in 50 litre bags (40 L and 60 L are also common)
Inputs used
- Bed Length
- 4 ft
- Bed Width
- 4 ft
- Bed Height (Fill Depth)
- 11.75 in
Intermediate steps
- Soil volume
- 15.67 ft³
What this calculation does not cover
- The count is locked to one bag size — 1.5 ft³ on the imperial view, 50 L on the metric one. Other stocked sizes (1 ft³, 2 ft³, 40 L, 60 L) and bulk-by-the-yard or by-the-tonne deliveries are outside it, and a printed bag volume is loose product that occupies less once it is wetted and settled in the bed.
- The figure is a straight length x width x depth with no allowance for settling, for the top-up most beds need after the first season, or for spillage and part-bags. The only slack in the number is the fraction of a bag rounded up at the end.
- It assumes a rectangular bed with vertical sides and one uniform fill depth. Tapered, circular, keyhole and L-shaped beds, beds stepped down a slope, and any bottom layer — drainage gravel, a hugelkultur wood core, landscape fabric or gopher wire — are not modelled; split those into layers or rectangular sections and add them up.
- This is a volume, not a growing-medium specification. It says nothing about what to fill with — a raised bed is normally filled with a blend rather than straight topsoil — and it does not check drainage, pH, nutrients, or whether the mix, the ground beneath it, or the bed material itself is suitable for food crops.
- A volume figure is not a load check. Filled and watered, a bed this size is heavy enough to matter on a balcony, roof terrace, timber deck or paved podium, and nothing here confirms that structure will carry it or that the bed walls can resist the outward pressure of the fill — the reason tall, thin sides bow and split.
Estimated cost — your price
This site holds no price list for this material — local prices vary too much to publish honestly. Enter your supplier's price and the result is costed with it.
Computed in your browser — nothing you enter is uploaded. Presented in US customary units and US trade terminology. Where a formula follows a published standard, that standard and its edition are cited beside it on this page; where none governs, the page says so. Local amendments override model codes — verify against the code in force where you build.
Sources checked 2026-09-02 · in the site-wide review of 2026-09-06 · v1.0.1
Regulatory standards & verification citations1
- Soil volume = bed length x width x height; a standard bagged garden soil or potting mix bag holds about 1.5 cubic ft in North America, while metric markets sell compost and topsoil in 50 litre bags (40 L and 60 L are also common)
Cite this page
Your workspace
Most jobs need more than one number. Add the calculators you need next and they open right here, underneath this one — your figures stay on screen and nothing is lost to a page change.