How much bark to order!

[GarethSouthgatesWaistcoat]

Forgive me for being dense but I can't seem to get to grips with the quantity of bark needed to cover flowerbeds.

I'm looking at Wickes 90L bags. My garden isn't particularly massive but I have some long 2.5-3ft wide beds along the fences on either side and at the end of the garden.

I've tried online calculators but they tend to be for play areas or they give you the result in cubic metres etc. I could work it out but I'm interested in anecdotal evidence

Surely it depends on the surface area and how deep you want it?

Buy one bag, put it on and see how far one goes so that you can work out how much you actually need?

I know that I had several tonnes of wood chip dropped off and it only covered half my allotment beds.

Absolutely! Just trying to save myself repeat trips and get a ballpark guesstimate

I put a slightly smaller bag down in a relative's garden and I recall it went further than anticipated.

I don't need a terribly thick layer but a reasonable covering would be useful to keep moisture in/weeds at bay.

Trial and error it is unless anyone else has any pointers.

I think I've found an approximate amount based on a spread thickness on Amazon Q&A

More than you think in my experience! I really could have used one more bag to make the coverage thick enough.

Thanks! I'm not all that far from Wickes - was just trying to save myself a return trip 😂

Why bark?
I put it in my flowerbeds a while ago and really regretted it.
The sun bleached it and made it look crap fairly quickly and weeds grew really well through it...

I just use compost now and try to cover every inch of space with plants.

I've heard a couple of posters say they use Gro-Sure Smart Ground Cover for keeping moisture in and suppressing weeds. I might try it next time I need to mulch.

I'd say always add one more bag to what you think you might need...

Weeds grow through unless you put a weed barrier down first

Thanks for all the responses! I'll look into the smart cover, I've seen it in the garden centres.

I had an overstuffed flowerbed (to outcompete weeds) but it had gone past looking good (4-5yrs on) so I thinned it out, thoroughly weeded and rehomed some of the duplicate plants that were no longer bringing me joy. I'm now left with gaps (not massive) and I wanted to wait and see how my new plants fill the space and plant in a more considered way this time.

The bed is south facing and gets thoroughly baked. My plants cope admirably but I get sick of looking at baked clay soil. I thought bark chippings would make it look a bit nicer and keep some moisture in.

I thought bark chippings would make it look a bit nicer and keep some moisture in. Only if you put it on while there's still some moisture in it, ie apply when the soil is wet not when the soil has already dried out.

no longer bringing me joy

I hadn't ever thought to Kondo my garden, but now I'm planning to do just that!

I couldn't think of a better way to describe it

I put the duplicate plants on my local facebook plant re-homing group and they were snapped up within minutes and collected the same day. I feel very virtuous!

Thanks to everyone for all the bark advice