Raised Garden Bed Soil Calculator — Free Tool
How to Use the Raised Garden Bed Soil Calculator
Planning a raised garden bed? This free raised garden bed soil calculator from Frame It All takes the guesswork out of filling your beds. Enter your bed dimensions — length, width, and height — choose your soil mix, and get instant results in cubic feet, cubic yards, and bags. A 10% settling allowance is automatically included so you always have enough.
Raised Garden Bed Soil Calculator
Enter your bed dimensions, choose your soil mix, and get exact quantities in bags or bulk — with a full ingredient breakdown.
Calculated amounts include an additional 10% to account for soil settling that will occur over time.
Exact recommended soil volumes for each bed size and tier count. Tap any volume cell to pre-fill the calculator.
| Bed size | Sq ft | 1 tier 5.5 in |
2 tiers 11 in |
3 tiers 16.5 in |
4 tiers 22 in |
|---|
Match your bed height to your planting plans.
Choosing the Right Soil Mix for Raised Beds
The right soil mix makes the difference between a thriving garden and a struggling one. Most raised bed gardeners use a blend of topsoil, compost, and aeration material like perlite or coarse sand. A popular starting point is equal parts topsoil, compost, and perlite — sometimes called a “Mel’s Mix” for square-foot gardening.
Soil depth matters too. Shallow-rooted crops like lettuce and herbs do well in 6–8 inches, while tomatoes, carrots, and beans need 12 inches or more. Use Frame It All’s soil reference chart or the Know and Grow Guide to match soil depth to what you’re growing. All Frame It All raised garden beds are designed to work with standard soil bag volumes — so the numbers from this calculator translate directly to your next hardware store run.