Raised Bed Planning Sheet
Measure every bed, total the soil, and take one list to the garden centre. Same conversions this calculator uses.
BFCBrilliance · bfcbrilliance.com/tools/raised-bed-soil-calculator
The plot
- Date
- Soil / compost mix
- Supplier
- Bag size
- Price per bag
- Price per yard
Measure each bed
| Bed | Length (ft) | Width (ft) | Depth (in) | Cubic feet |
|---|---|---|---|---|
The conversions used
- Cubic feet in a cubic yard
- 27
- Inches in a foot
- 12
- Volume
- length x width x depth
- 1.5 cu ft bags per cubic yard
- 18
- Depth for salad and herbs
- 6-8 in
- Depth for roots and tomatoes
- 10-12 in
- Usual maximum bed width
- 4 ft
Before you fill
- Every bed measured and written in the table
- Site checked for sun through the day, not just this morning
- Bed levelled - soil finds the low end and stays there
- Cardboard or membrane down if you are building over grass
- Bottom third filled with logs or coarse material if you are bulking it out
- Somewhere for a bulk pile to be tipped, if ordering loose
- Watering worked out before the bed is full, not after
- An inch or two left below the rim so watering does not wash soil out
Buy for the second year too
A new bed drops an inch or two as the soil settles and the organic matter breaks down. That is normal and not a sign anything is wrong. Budget a bag or two per bed each spring to top it back up, rather than overfilling now and washing it over the sides all summer.