When you need to buy mulch (especially more than a few bags), you’ll want to shop when there’s a sale. Usually, that means shopping during the spring months — when mulch sales happen at the biggest home improvement retailers.
Sales like Lowe’s SpringFest and Home Depot Spring Black Friday help you save an easy 50% on mulch. And with Menards 11% rebate, it's possible to score low prices most times of year.
If your whole front yard needs fresh mulch, these discounts aren't just helpful — they're necessary. I'll walk you through the top sales to shop for mulch and how to easily compare prices, so you can save the most money on home and garden deals.
For more smart shopping tips and savings hacks, download the KCL app or text HACKS to 57299.
Always calculate the cost per cubic foot to find the best price on mulch.
Mulch comes in all different sizes, packages, and varieties — which is why it’s so hard to compare prices across brands. To most accurately compare prices across different mulches, we always calculate the cost per cubic foot. Doing this will tell you where to get the best deal every time.
To calculate the cost per cubic foot, first, look at the price tag to see how much the item costs. Then, check the mulch package for its total cubic feet. Most packages have it listed front and center, but some brands place it in the bottom left or right corners of their packaging.
Then, divide the item’s total price by its total cubic feet (Price / Cubic Feet) to get the price per cubic foot.
Aim to pay no more than $1.50 per cubic foot.
While rubber mulch prices tend to be high, most wood-based mulch comes out to about $1.50 - $2 per cubic foot. Menards is the only retailer who consistently sells mulch below $1.50 per cubic foot.
But you can easily find mulch below the $1.50 price point during seasonal sales at top home improvement stores, like Lowe's and Home Depot. And during these sales, Menards drops their mulch prices and tacks on their famous 11% rebate.
Moral of the story: Buy mulch at Menards if you’re lucky enough to have one in your area. If not, wait for spring sales at Lowe’s and Home Depot, if possible.
When does mulch go on sale?
Mulch sales usually happen during the spring and summer months. You can usually find it for the cheapest prices in April. But sometimes Memorial Day sales bring in hard-to-miss savings, too.
Home Depot 5 for $10 Mulch Sale 2024
You'll find Home Depot's 5 for $10 mulch sale twice a year: during Spring Black Friday and the Home Depot Memorial Day Sale.
Spring Black Friday runs from April 4 - 28, 2024, this year. You'll get five bags of Scott's Earthgro Mulch for $10, or $2 per bag. Each bag includes 1.5 cubic feet of mulch, which gives you a cost of $1.33 per cubic foot.
Home Depot's Memorial Day event will likely happen from May 16 - 29, 2024. This is when we see five bags of Vigoro mulch for $10. But here's the kicker — these bags include two cubic feet of mulch. That gives you a cost of $1 per cubic foot (well below your $1.50 goal price).
Lowe's 5 for $10 Mulch Sale 2024
Always compare Home Depot's price to Lowe's 5 for $10 mulch sale. This deal happens during the Lowe's SpringFest Sale, which runs from April 4 - May 1, 2024.
Lowe's spring deal on mulch tends to be better than Home Depot's. They'll drop Lowe's Premium Wood Mulch to $2 a bag. Each bag has two cubic feet of mulch, giving you that low cost of $1 per cubic foot.
More Ways to Save on Mulch
1. Get to know the best regular prices for top mulch brands.
Here are the top U.S. mulch brands and their everyday cost per cubic foot in 2024:
Menards Mulch: $1.48 per cubic foot
Menards has the most affordable store-brand mulch at regular prices — $3.33 per two-cubic-foot bag. But with their 11% rebate, that price drops to $2.96 per bag, or $1.48 per cubic foot. So even without a sale, you'll score a price below the $1.50 per cubic foot mark.
But during competitor sales at Lowe's and Home Depot, Menards drops the price to $2.99 a bag. With the 11% rebate, that comes out to $2.66 per bag, giving you a cost of $1.33 per cubic foot.
Home Depot Vigoro Mulch: $1.67 per cubic foot
Home Depot sells two-cubic-foot bags of Vigoro wood mulch for $3.33 at regular prices. That gives you a cost of $1.67 per cubic foot. But prices drop significantly for their major spring and summer sales.
Surprisingly, the Home Depot Memorial Day Sale has an even better deal on mulch than Spring Black Friday. Vigoro mulch drops to $2 a bag, giving you a cost of $1 per cubic foot.
KCL TIP: Home Depot employees I spoke with said they prefer the red cedar Vigoro mulch to other types. Cedar chips act as a natural insect repellent.
Lowe's Premium Mulch — $1.99 per cubic foot
Lowe’s store-brand mulch regularly costs $3.98 for a two-cubic-foot bag, which comes out to $1.99 per cubic foot. But waiting for a sale is a surefire way to save.
Lowe's SpringFest Sale is the best time to shop for Lowe's mulch. This is when the price drops to $2 a bag, giving you a cost of $1 per cubic foot. This deal matches Home Depot's Memorial Day deal on Vigoro mulch.
Timberline Mulch — $1.99 per cubic foot
At regular prices, Timberline mulch costs the same as Lowe's store-brand mulch. Two-cubic-foot bags sell for $3.98 each, or $1.99 per cubic foot.
However, we rarely see sale prices on Timberline mulch (if ever). So the cost of $1.99 per cubic foot is likely the best price you'll get.
2. Use a mulch calculator to avoid overpaying.
Figuring out how much mulch I need to cover my garden is math I'd rather not solve by hand.
Instead, I use this mulch calculator to do the work for me. You'll have to measure your square footage and the depth of your garden, but the calculator tells you exactly how much mulch you need.
It gives you calculations for two and three-cubic-foot bags of mulch. And if you're buying a 1.5 cubic foot bag, just double the amount they give you for three-cubic-foot bags.
3. Skip delivery and rent a truck to transport mulch yourself.
Delivery fees on bulk mulch orders can cost you hundreds of dollars, depending on where you live. For example, Home Depot will deliver 10 - 20 bags of mulch to my address for $35. But if I need 30 bags, that delivery fee jumps to $79.
Lowe's delivery costs even more for mulch. For my location, they require a purchase of at least $79 to qualify for delivery. And even then, the delivery fee is $79. So you're paying just as much for delivery as you're paying for 40 bags of mulch at the $2 sale price.
Both stores offer free mulch delivery in certain areas. But if you're seeing that $79 fee, skip delivery altogether. You'll save a lot more by renting a truck and picking up the mulch yourself.
Both Lowe's and Home Depot offer $19 pickup truck rentals for 75 minutes (Home Depot) and 90 minutes (Lowe's). That saves you $60 on delivery off the bat.
RELATED: Here's how truck rentals and more prices compare at Lowe’s vs. Home Depot.
4. Check for bulk pricing deals to save up to 10% on mulch.
In the past, we’ve seen offers at Home Depot and Lowe’s for 10% off bulk mulch orders, but they’re not consistent. When you see one of these offers, be sure to run the numbers. Sometimes the bulk pricing discount will save you money per cubic square foot – but sometimes it won’t.
5. Keep your landscaping costs even lower with mulch alternatives.
Mulch isn't the only cost-effective way to nurture your garden.
You can use composted kitchen scraps as an alternative to mulch. You'll have to routinely collect compost and layer it onto your soil. But even though it's more work, it's a free way to keep landscaping fresh.
You can buy compost bins on Amazon ($25.99), or grab composting bags from Target ($6.49) to help collect and distribute compost.
Services like Chip Drop can get you free mulch or wood chips for your garden, too. However, wood chips don't insulate your plants or retain water as well as mulch does.
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