Most of the questions I get asked in the garage are arithmetic that nobody wants to do while standing next to the machine. How much oil goes into a gallon of gas for the trimmer? Is the can that sat in the shed all winter still safe to pour in? How many bags of mulch does that bed take, and is it cheaper by the yard? What oil goes in the transaxle, and how much? These free tools answer one of those questions each, from your own numbers, in a few seconds. Nothing to sign up for, nothing to install, and they work on a phone with oil on your fingers.
Mower & Engine Tools
Fuel, oil and fluids for the machine in front of you — what it takes, how much, and whether what is in there is still good.
- Gas Shelf-Life & Stabilizer CalculatorIs the gas in that can still good — and how much stabilizer does it need?
- 2-Cycle Gas Mix CalculatorHow much 2-cycle oil goes in that much gas, and the ratio your saw or trimmer asks for.
- Hydrostatic Transmission Oil FinderWhich oil your hydrostatic transaxle takes, how much, and whether it can be serviced at all.
- Mower Winterizing ChecklistEvery step the makers publish for putting a mower away for winter — drain or treat the fuel, oil, blade, battery.
- Mower TroubleshooterWon’t start, dies, smokes or shakes? Every check the makers print, cheapest first, with our post on each.
Yard Material Calculators
Measure the bed, the path or the lawn once, and know exactly how much mulch, soil or gravel to order.
- Mulch CalculatorBags or cubic yards for any bed or tree ring, at the depth that actually works.
- Topsoil & Soil CalculatorYards, tons or bags of soil — for leveling a lawn, a new lawn or a bed.
- Gravel CalculatorCubic yards, tons and bags of stone for a path, a bed or a driveway.
- Sod CalculatorPallets, rolls or slabs of sod for your lawn — with the extra to order and what a pallet weighs.
- Raised Bed Soil CalculatorHow much soil fills your raised bed or pot — and each ingredient of the mix, in bags.
- Sod Installation Cost CalculatorWhat your lawn costs to sod — three cost publishers’ ranges side by side, and your own quotes beside them.
- Companion Planting ChartWhich plant pairs have research behind them, which are tradition — and which were tested and failed.
Lawn Size & Care
How big the lawn really is, how long it takes to mow, and what it needs through the year.
- Lawn DoctorBrown spots, yellow grass or fungus? The likely causes, cheapest check first — starting with the mower.
- Lawn Size & Mowing Time CalculatorThe square feet and acres you actually mow, which mower suits it, and how long each mow takes.
- Lawn Fertilizer CalculatorPounds and bags from the numbers on the bag — and how often and when each state feeds your grass.
- Lawn Soil Test HelperWhere to send your soil sample, how to take it, and the lab’s lime or sulfur rate turned into bags.
- Plant DoctorWhat is wrong with my plant? The causes that fit, water and weather first, each with its check and fix.
Where the numbers come from
Every figure here comes from whoever published it, with the date I last checked it printed next to the answer. Fuel ratios and oil specs come from the engine or transmission maker’s own manual or website. Stabilizer doses come from the label on the bottle. Material depths come from university extension services. Nothing is invented, rounded to look precise, or averaged out of three different answers.
When the experts disagree, you see both
Small-engine advice is full of rules that contradict each other. The clearest example is old gas: engine makers tell you gas can go stale in about a month, while fuel companies talk about three to six months. They are both right about different things, and a tool that quietly picks one is hiding the part you need to know. So the gas tool shows both and tells you who says what.
The manual on your machine wins
These tools give you a starting point, not the last word. If the owner’s manual for your saw, trimmer or mower says something different from a chart on this page, go with the manual. It was written for your engine, and a chart was not. Anything involving fuel, blades or a machine up on jacks gets the same rule as everywhere else on this site: when in doubt, take it to a shop.
Share an answer, or keep it
Every result has its own link. Copy link saves exactly what you entered, so you can text a mulch order to whoever is picking it up, or pull up your mix ratio at the gas station without doing the maths again.
Put a tool on your own site
Every tool has an Embed button. It gives you a short piece of code to paste into a page, a forum post or a club’s resources page. The tool works there exactly as it does here, free, with a credit line linking back.
More from the site
The tools do the arithmetic. For the fixes themselves — decks that shake, engines that die when they warm up, blades, belts and hydrostatic drives — start with the latest fixes and guides.