I used Mulch Mound to have 3 cubic yards of garden soil delivered. The process was easy and I love that I didn't have to call anyone. I placed my order online, picked my delivery date, laid out my tarp and the dirt was delivered. My delivery had to be pushed back, but I was ke...
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How Much Material Do I Need?
Use two to three inches for decorative stone in beds and four inches or more for driveways, walkways, and drainage trenches. One cubic yard covers roughly 160 square feet at two inches deep.
Use our free gravel calculator
What is a yard?
A yard is approximately 27 cubic feet. As a general guideline, one yard of material can cover an area of about 100-160 square feet at a 2-3 inch depth.
I used Mulch Mound to have 3 cubic yards of garden soil delivered. The process was easy and I love that I didn't have to call anyone. I placed my order online, picked my delivery date, laid out my tarp and the dirt was delivered. My delivery had to be pushed back, but I was ke...
How Much Material Do I Need?
Use two to three inches for decorative stone in beds and four inches or more for driveways, walkways, and drainage trenches. One cubic yard covers roughly 160 square feet at two inches deep.
Use our free gravel calculator
What is a yard?
A yard is approximately 27 cubic feet. As a general guideline, one yard of material can cover an area of about 100-160 square feet at a 2-3 inch depth.
I used Mulch Mound to have 3 cubic yards of garden soil delivered. The process was easy and I love that I didn't have to call anyone. I placed my o...
Read full review
I used Mulch Mound to have 3 cubic yards of garden soil delivered. The process was easy and I love that I didn't have to call anyone. I placed my order online, picked my delivery date, laid out my tarp and the dirt was delivered. My delivery had to be pushed back, but I was kept informed via text, which was great. So why not 5 stars? The description of garden soil on the website is "A balanced mix of topsoil and organic amendments ready for raised beds, flower gardens, and new planting areas. Good drainage, solid nutrients, easy to work with." What I got was more like fill dirt. It had a lot of gravel, a lot of clay, and random trash mixed in. I didn't test the soil to see if it actually had "amendments" because I already have compost and alpaca manure ready to add, but if I'd known the quality of the dirt was going to be the same as the bagged dirt I bought last year, I probably would have gotten 2 yards of top soil and a yard of leaf compost for better quality, especially since the leaf compost is cheaper. Photo of my mountain of dirt and just some of the trash I found in it.
Stone is measured by volume just like mulch, so multiply length by width by depth in feet and divide by 27 for cubic yards. For drainage trenches, remember the trench walls in Parma silt loam tend to slough a bit during digging, so your actual volume runs larger than the plan. Order five to ten percent over your calculated number.
Complete Your Outdoor Stone Project
Pick up landscape fabric to keep Parma's fine silt loam from migrating up into your stone, and add steel or paver edging so stone stays out of the lawn and off the mower blades.
Always use washed stone in drainage applications. Unwashed limestone carries fines that turn to a cement like paste when they meet Parma's silt loam and constant moisture, and a trench packed with that material stops draining within a couple of years. Washed number 57 costs a bit more per yard and it is the difference between a drain that works for fifteen years and one that fails in three.
Mulch Mound Pro Tip
Point downspouts into stone, not onto turf. Parma roofs shed a huge volume during our 43 inches of annual rain, and concentrated discharge on saturated silt loam carves channels and floats mulch across the yard. A three foot by three foot stone splash bed at each downspout, four inches deep over fabric, absorbs the impact and lets water spread out and soak in slowly.
Mulch Mound Pro Tip
Compact stone in lifts, never all at once. Whether you are building a patio base or a parking pad, dumping eight inches of limestone and running a plate compactor over the top only densifies the upper two or three inches. The rest stays loose and settles under Parma's freeze and thaw cycles. Spread three inches, compact, spread again, compact again, and check level between passes.
The Unique Landscape of Parma
Parma's slow draining silt loam and 43 inches of annual rainfall make drainage stone one of the most useful materials a homeowner here can buy. Downspout runoff that pools against a foundation, a side yard that stays muddy into June, and gravel driveways that rut every spring are all common problems on these glacial lake bed soils. Decorative stone also solves a different problem, since mulch washes out of sloped beds during Parma's heavy spring storms while stone stays put. In zone 6b with freeze and thaw cycling from late October through April, stone does not decompose, does not need annual replacement, and does not heave the way organic material can. At 945 feet, Parma gets meaningful snow load, and a properly built stone base under a patio or walkway is what keeps it level after five winters.
Frequently Asked Questions
Click a question to see the answer
Answer
What stone should I use for a French drain in my Parma backyard?
Number 57 washed limestone is the standard choice. The one inch clean angular pieces leave plenty of void space for water to move, which matters a lot on Parma's silt loam where the surrounding soil will not drain on its own. Wrap the trench in filter fabric so fine silt does not migrate in and clog the voids within a few seasons.
Answer
Will stone mulch hurt my plants compared to wood mulch?
Stone adds no organic matter, which is a real drawback over Parma's silt loam since that soil benefits from the compost that wood mulch provides. Stone also reflects heat, so it is a poor fit for hydrangeas and hostas but a good fit for junipers, ornamental grasses, and sedum. Use stone in sunny, sloped, or high traffic areas and keep wood mulch in shaded planting beds.
Answer
How thick should the stone base be under a paver patio in Parma?
Six inches of compacted crushed limestone is the minimum for a patio here, and eight inches is safer for a driveway. Parma's frost depth and wet silt loam subgrade mean a thin base will pump and settle after the first few freeze and thaw winters. Compact in three inch lifts and add a one inch sand setting bed on top.
Answer
How often will I need to add stone to my gravel driveway?
Most Parma driveways need a fresh top layer of limestone every three to five years. Spring thaw is hardest on them because saturated silt loam under the gravel softens and lets the surface rut. Grading in late April and topping with an inch of number 8 or number 411 limestone keeps the surface tight through the rest of the year.
Answer
How much does a yard of stone weigh and will it damage my driveway?
A cubic yard of limestone runs roughly 2,500 to 2,800 pounds, so even a three yard load is over four tons. Most Parma driveways handle that fine, but older concrete with existing cracks can chip. Ask us to drop on plywood or on the apron near the street if you have any concerns.
Answer
Can I put stone over the muddy strip along my fence line?
Yes, and it is a popular fix in Parma where narrow side yards between houses stay wet and never grow grass. Excavate three to four inches, lay landscape fabric, then fill with number 57 or number 8 limestone. Without the fabric, Parma silt loam will work its way up through the stone within two seasons.
Answer
Does stone control weeds better than mulch?
Initially yes, but over time no. Windblown soil and leaf litter collect in the voids between stones, and in Parma that debris becomes a seedbed for maple seedlings and creeping charlie within about three years. Fabric underneath helps, but plan on blowing debris off the stone each fall before the October leaf drop finishes.
Answer
Is there a stone yard near Parma?
Parma's slow draining silt loam holds water after heavy spring rain, so a base of crushed stone helps keep downspout runoff and soggy spots away from your foundation. You can skip the stone yard and the drive to a quarry, because Mulch Mound delivers crushed stone by the cubic yard right to the spot you choose.
