How to Measure for Purchasing Top Soil by Cubic Yard
Top soil is the most nutrient-rich portion of the ground. For areas that do not have naturally rich soil, you can purchase top soil to put down before you begin planting to help your plants grow. The depth of the soil is determined by what you are planting. If you already have grass growing, you might want to put down an inch. If you are planning to plant grass, you will want between 4 and 6 inches. If it's vegetables you will be growing, you will probably want between 8 inches and a foot of top soil thickness. Does this Spark an idea?
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Instructions
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Determine how thick the layer of topsoil needs to be, based on what you are growing.
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Convert the top soil thickness to yards. If the measurement is already in yards, skip this step. If your measurement is in inches, divide by 36. If the measurement is in feet, divide by three.
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Measure the length and width of the area that you are going to cover with top soil in yards.
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Multiply the length times the width times the thickness to determine the number of cubic yards of top soil you need to purchase. Make sure you use the same units of measure for all dimensions. For example, if your dimensions, measured with a measuring tape, are 36 feet long, 24 feet wide and 7 inches deep, first convert all of those measurements to yards. After converting to yards, your dimensions are 12 yards long, 8 yards wide and about 0.2 yards deep. The equation would be 12 x 8 x 0.2 = the number of cubic yards you would need. The answer in this example is 19.2 cubic yards of top soil.
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