Measure beds, pick cloth, and set allowances quickly. Get rolls, cost, and cutting plan now. Reduce shortages, waste, and rework across every plot season.
Plan garden fabric needs with accurate coverage today. Include overlaps, seams, roll sizes, and waste easily. Export results to share with crews and suppliers fast.
A realistic planning example for weed barrier on raised beds.
| Example | Beds | Bed size | Edge allowance | Overlap | Waste | Roll width × length | Estimated rolls |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Raised beds | 6 | 3.0 m × 1.2 m | 0.10 m | 8% | 7% | 1.0 m × 50 m | 2 |
| Row covers | 10 | 4.0 m × 0.9 m | 0.15 m | 10% | 10% | 1.2 m × 30 m | 5 |
| Small plots | 3 | 2.5 m × 2.5 m | 0.05 m | 5% | 5% | 2.0 m × 25 m | 2 |
Your results will vary with roll width, joins, and shapes.
Area is also reported as Leff · Weff · Beds, adjusted by overlap and waste for planning.
Accurate cloth sizing begins with the effective bed footprint. Measure length and width of one bed, then decide whether you will bury or pin edges. If you add 10 cm per side, a 3.0 m by 1.2 m bed becomes 3.2 m by 1.4 m. Multiply by the number of beds to estimate the net coverage area before allowances.
Most installations require seams because roll width rarely matches bed width. When two strips meet, overlap reduces weed gaps and improves strength. A practical overlap allowance is 5–15%, depending on staples, pins, soil contact, and wind exposure. The calculator treats overlap as a multiplier on total material, which is conservative and helps avoid mid‑job shortages.
Waste is driven by trimming around irrigation lines, curved borders, and imperfect cuts. For rectangular beds with straight cuts, 3–8% can be enough. For complex layouts, 10–20% is common. If you cut X‑slits for transplants, consider adding a few percent because offcuts are hard to reuse. Standardizing bed dimensions reduces waste across the whole garden.
Rolls are purchased by length, so the key output is adjusted linear length required. The calculator converts bed width into a strip count using roll width, then scales by bed length and bed count. It rounds rolls up to whole units and reports purchased area and utilization. Low utilization may indicate that a different roll width would fit your beds more efficiently.
Use the strips‑per‑bed number to plan staging: pre‑cut strips, label stacks, and assign fasteners per seam. In windy sites, increase edge allowance and overlap, and anchor every 30–60 cm along edges. For frost or shade cloth, build in extra slack for hoops and clips. Export CSV for purchasing and PDF for crews on site. Recheck measurements before cutting; small errors compound across many beds.
Use it for weed barrier fabric, frost cloth, shade cloth, floating row cover, or ground sheets. The math is the same; choose overlap and waste values that reflect how you will seam and anchor the material.
Start with 5% for calm sites and tight seams. Use 10–15% when you expect multiple joins, windy conditions, or loose pin spacing. More overlap improves coverage but increases roll count.
For straight beds with clean cuts, 3–8% is typical. If beds vary in size, have curves, or require many cutouts for plants and irrigation, plan 10–20% to avoid shortages.
If the roll is narrower than the bed’s effective width, you must lay multiple strips. Strips per bed is the ceiling of effective width divided by roll width, which drives total linear length used.
Try a wider roll, reduce overlap, or standardize bed sizes. Keeping edges straight and minimizing cutouts also lowers waste. Compare scenarios in the calculator before purchasing to find the best fit.
The PDF export captures the results card, which is the section most useful for sharing and printing. Run a calculation first, then click Download PDF to generate a clean summary.
Important Note: All the Calculators listed in this site are for educational purpose only and we do not guarentee the accuracy of results. Please do consult with other sources as well.