Garden Area Calculator
Square footage of a rectangle, triangle, circle or oval bed, plus the soil, mulch and plant counts that follow.
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Landscape Fabric & Edging Calculator
Size a weed barrier roll order and the edging, staples and cost that go with it, including the overlap you lose to seams.
Landscape Fabric & Edging Calculator
Chlorova · updated for 2026
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Click “Calculate” to see your results.
Roll sizes and prices are typical retail figures and change by supplier and season, so confirm the gauge and warranty on the box you are buying. Coverage includes a seam allowance but not waste around curves, which can add another tenth on a fussy bed. Fabric is a weed management tool, not a substitute for mulch depth or weeding, and it degrades soils that need organic matter by cutting them off from it. Check local rules before using plastic film on a bed that will later count as green infrastructure.
Fabric orders go wrong in two places: the seam and the edge. Buy the exact square footage and you will run short the moment two strips have to overlap, and leave the perimeter unpinned and the wind will peel your work up by the first autumn storm. This calculator sizes the roll count from the bed area plus an overlap allowance, then counts staples by perimeter and edging sticks by their length, so the whole hardware order arrives together. It prices each part separately so you can see what you are really paying.
Ordering Fabric, Staples and Edging
- Pick the barrier material and gauge first.
- Enter bed area in square feet, beds and borders only.
- Enter the perimeter you will pin and edge.
- Leave the seam allowance at ten percent, more on curves.
- Set staple spacing, two feet is the usual answer.
- Enter the edging stick length you are buying.
- Price the edging and the staples separately.
- Read rolls, then check the footage you unroll.
- Look at service life before paying for a heavy mat.
- Add a spare staple box rather than a spare roll.
Coverage, Pins and the Cost of a Seam
The roll count comes from area with slack added for seams: bed area times one plus the overlap percent, divided by the roll area of width times length, rounded up because nobody sells half a roll. Fabric is bought by area but laid by length, so the footage you unroll is the adjusted area divided by roll width, which is the number to mark out on the ground.
Pins and edging follow the perimeter instead, which is why a long narrow border costs more to lay than a square one of the same area. Staples go at the spacing you choose plus extra at every seam; edging sticks are the perimeter divided by stick length, rounded up. Total cost is fabric plus edging plus staples, and dividing it by bed area gives the true installed price per square foot.
Worked Example: A 200 Square Foot Border, Spunbond Matting
- Choose spunbond polyester, a roll of 3 by 50 ft.
- One roll therefore covers 150 sq ft before seams.
- Enter 200 sq ft of bed with a ten percent overlap.
- Adjusted coverage is 220 sq ft, needing 2 rolls.
- The seam allowance added 20 sq ft, being one tenth.
- You unroll 73.3 ft of cloth across the border.
- Buying both rolls means 300 sq ft of fabric in total.
- A 60 ft perimeter at 2 ft spacing pins 30 staples.
- The same edge in 4 ft sticks takes 15 pieces.
- Fabric costs 64 dollars, edging 210, staples 11.
- Total hardware is 285 dollars, or 1.42 per sq ft.
Barrier Materials Compared
Roll size, coverage before seams, rough service life and the job each one suits.
| Material | Roll ft | Roll sq ft | Years | Use it for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spunbond | 3 by 50 | 150 | 8 | Planted beds |
| Woven cloth | 3 by 50 | 150 | 5 | Gravel paths |
| Heavy 5 ft | 5 by 50 | 250 | 10 | Long borders |
| Black plastic | 10 by 100 | 1000 | 2 | Solarization |
| Jute matting | 2.5 by 50 | 125 | 1 | Slope erosion |
| Cardboard | 4 by 25 | 100 | 0.5 | Sheet mulching |
Key Terms
- Spunbond
- Non woven fabric that passes water and air while blocking weeds.
- Seam overlap
- Where two strips meet, usually six inches, so weeds cannot thread the join.
- Landscape staple
- A U shaped pin that holds fabric to the soil at the edge and seam.
- Edging stick
- A rigid metal or plastic strip that forms a clean cut between bed and lawn.
- Gauge
- Fabric weight, quoted in ounces per square yard, which sets durability.
- Solarization
- Clear or black plastic baked on moist soil to cook what is under it.
What Installers Get Right
- Installers cut the fabric to the shape of the bed rather than laying rectangles and folding the excess, because a fold is a permanently weak seam.
- The edging, not the cloth, is what a client actually judges. Most of this order's money goes to the edge line for exactly that reason.
- Weeds will come from above. Airborne seed lands on the fabric, grows in the dust that gathers on it, and the barrier becomes a seedbed you have to weed anyway.
- Perforated or spunbond matting is the only sensible choice under anything you water by hand, since plastic sheeting turns an irrigated bed into a dry one sitting on a puddle.
- Sheet mulching with cardboard costs almost nothing, improves the soil as it goes, and needs a proper mulch depth on top, which is why many gardeners skip the fabric entirely.
Common Mistakes & Fixes
- Buying the exact square footage with no seam slack.
- Pinning only the corners and losing the roll to wind.
- Putting woven cloth under a hedge that needs water.
- Skipping edging and letting the fabric edge fray away.
- Laying fabric on weedy ground and calling it done.
- Reusing a rotted plastic film as a weed barrier.
- Cutting corners on the seam and threading weeds through it.
- Planting directly into a woven mat that the roots then cling to.
When to Reach for This
Use it when planning a new border, laying gravel or a path base, sheet mulching a lawn into a bed, or edging a large planting where hand weeding is expensive. Pair it with the garden area calculator to measure an odd shaped bed, the mulch depth calculator for what goes on top, the sheet mulch calculator for the cardboard route, and the landscape rock calculator when the fabric is going under stone.
Landscape Fabric & Edging Calculator: Frequently Asked Questions
How much overlap do landscape fabric seams need?
Six inches is the working answer, which on a three foot roll is about a tenth of your coverage, so the default ten percent allowance is close to right. Overlap more on windy sites and on anything you will walk beside. Butt seams never work, since the gap widens as the fabric shrinks.
Why is edging the biggest cost in the order?
Because edging is sold in short rigid sticks priced per piece, and the perimeter of a typical border is long relative to its area. A 200 square foot bed with a 60 ft edge needs fifteen sticks, which comfortably outweighs two rolls of cloth. Buy the cloth after you have priced the edge.
Does landscape fabric stop weeds permanently?
No. It blocks weeds germinating below it for as long as it stays intact and light tight, typically a handful of years. Seed blown onto the fabric grows in the grit that collects on top, and seams let light through long before the material itself fails.
Should I use fabric or cardboard under mulch?
Cardboard where you want soil improvement and can cover it properly, fabric where you want a long lived barrier under gravel or on a path. Cardboard smothers for one season and then feeds worms, while fabric preserves a clean line but slowly seals the soil from water and air. Many gardeners use both, cardboard in beds and fabric in paths.
How far apart should landscape staples go?
About every two feet along the edge, and add one on each side of every seam. Loose or sloping ground and windy sites justify one foot spacing. Staples are cheap enough that buying twice what you think you need is the correct approach.
Can I put fabric over drip irrigation?
You can, but water then pools above the emitters unless the fabric is genuinely permeable, and you lose sight of leaks and clogged lines. The better layout is irrigation under the fabric with the fabric cut back at each emitter, or irrigation on the surface above a cardboard layer.
Sources & Further Reading
- Landscape Fabric and Weed Barriers in the Garden — University of Minnesota Extension. Performance, longevity and the limits of fabric weed control.
- Weed Control with Plastic and Fabric Mulches — Oregon State University Extension. Seam overlap, permeability and installation practice.
- Sheet Mulching Techniques — Washington State University Extension. Cardboard and compost as a fabric alternative.
- Nonwoven Landscape Fabrics — University of Florida IFAS Extension. Spunbond versus woven structure and water movement.
Chlorova Gardening Team
Builds, checks and documents every tool we publish
Chlorova editorial review
Checked against extension-service publications
Formula verified against published references · Updated
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