How much mulch does a Somerville front bed actually take?
Less than most people order. The strip between the front stairs and the sidewalk on a triple-decker is usually 3 to 4 feet deep and 20 to 30 feet across — somewhere between 60 and 120 square feet. Run the formula, cubic yards = (square feet × depth in inches) ÷ 324, and a 4-foot bed along a 25-foot frontage is 100 square feet, so three inches is almost exactly one yard.
Where does the truck put a yard of mulch on a Somerville street?
Curbside, in front of the address. That is the default drop, and on narrow one-way streets with resident permit parking it is usually the only option — a six-wheeler is not backing down the shared driveway between two triple-deckers. A yard drops as a pile roughly four to five feet across and thigh high, weighing 500 to 800 pounds depending on the mulch. On-property delivery needs a signed liability waiver, so sort that before delivery day rather than while the driver waits.
What is the two-hour sequence?
- Cut the edge first (15 min). Spade vertical, a clean 3-inch trench along the sidewalk and lawn line, so the soil you flip out lands in the bed and gets buried by mulch rather than left on the pavement.
- Weed and cultivate (25 min). Pull everything, then scratch up the top inch so water and mulch meet soil rather than crust.
- Water deeply (20 min, mostly waiting). The step that gets skipped and the one that matters. Soak the bed, then check with a trowel that it is damp 4 to 6 inches down.
- Spread 2 inches (35 min). Rake level, keep it off stems, pull it back from shrub trunks so the root flare shows.
- Sweep and hose the sidewalk (10 min). With a dyed mulch, do this before it rains.
Which mulch for a bed you walk past every day?
Black Mulch at $58 a yard gives the sharpest look — dyed, double-ground, uniform, strongest contrast against green foliage and light stone. Be honest about the trade: in a south-facing frontage with no shade it fades over a season, and it is dyed hardwood, so keep it out of any vegetable bed. Hemlock at $63 is undyed New England bark — the one to use if the bed also grows anything you eat. Both are in mulch bed refresh, alongside the full mulch range, and the UMass Extension landscape program has regional plant-care guidance.
What does the whole job cost delivered?
One yard of Black Mulch is $58. Somerville sits 6.6 to 8.3 driving miles from our Dispatch Office in Dorchester, well inside the 30-mile flat zone, so delivery is $100 flat — $158 delivered. The unhelpful truth on a one-yard order is that freight costs more than the material. the fee is per load and mulch loads run to 10 yards, so two or three yards on the same line item ship on the same trip for the same $100.
Common questions
Is one cubic yard really enough?
For 100 square feet at 3 inches, or 160 at 2, yes.
Do you deliver less than a yard?
One yard is the smallest practical dump-truck drop, and there is no minimum above that. Material is sold loose by the cubic yard, never bagged.
Can I get delivery on a resident-permit street?
Yes, curbside at your address. If parking on your block is tight, ask for an early morning window before the street fills.
Order a yard from the Somerville landscape supply collection, or text your bed measurements to (617) 286-2740. For why you water before mulching, see whether you can lay mulch in July; if a landscaper is doing the work, how crews sequence July deliveries explains why morning drops go easier.
