YardTally was built by a homeowner, for homeowners. It’s a free site with yard and garden calculators and step-by-step home guides, written for people who would rather do the project themselves and get it right the first time.
Why I Built YardTally
When I bought my first house, I kept running into the same problem. I’d be standing in the garden center or the lumber aisle trying to figure out how much soil, gravel, or concrete I actually needed, and the best I could find online were walls of text and static charts that still left me doing math on my phone.
So I built the calculators I wished existed. Free, fast, and straightforward. No signup, no upsell, just the number you need so you can get back to the project. That’s still the idea behind everything on the site.
What You’ll Find on YardTally
YardTally has two kinds of tools:
- Free calculators. Enter your measurements and get the exact amount to buy, in cubic yards, cubic feet, or bags. There are more than 15, including the topsoil calculator, mulch calculator, gravel, concrete, pavers, grass seed, and fence calculators.
- Practical how-to guides. Lawn care, drainage, gardening, pest control, and home maintenance, from fixing bare spots in the lawn to our winter home maintenance checklist.
The guides are organized around the jobs homeowners actually face through the year: getting the lawn green in spring, keeping it alive in a summer drought, fixing a soggy yard after heavy rain, building raised beds and fences, cleaning up in the fall, and getting the house ready before winter. Each one is written in plain language with clear steps, the tools you’ll need, and the mistakes to avoid.
You can browse everything by category on the All Guides page, or use the search bar on the homepage to find a specific project.
What Makes the Calculators Different
Most online calculators give you one number and leave you to figure out the rest. These are built around how you actually shop:
- They give you the answer in the units the store sells, like bags, cubic yards, or tons, not just cubic feet.
- They account for real-world details, like the depth you need, the shape of the area, and a little extra for waste.
- They work on your phone, so you can run the numbers right there in the aisle.
- Each one comes with a short guide underneath that explains the math, so you know why the number is what it is.
The goal is simple: buy the right amount the first time, skip the second trip, and don’t pay for a pile of leftover material sitting in the garage.
How YardTally Guides Are Written
Every guide on YardTally starts with real experience. I live in Greenwood, Indiana, and a lot of what you’ll read comes from projects at my own house: shutting down the sprinklers and spigots before the first freeze, dealing with fall pests, and keeping a lawn alive through Midwest summers. When I haven’t dealt with something myself, I say so.
I also back up the advice with trusted sources, mainly university extension services and government agencies like Purdue Extension and the U.S. EPA. Every source is linked in the article so you can check it yourself.
How YardTally Is Supported
YardTally is free to use. Some guides link to products I’d actually use, and as an Amazon Associate, I earn a small commission on qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you. Those links never change what I recommend. You can read the details in our affiliate disclosure.
Get in Touch
Have a question, a project you’d like covered, or a calculator you wish existed? I’d love to hear it. Reach me at hello@yardtally.com or through the contact page.