Each fall, the chore falls again on the shoulders of millions of us, as the trees shed their leaves in preparation for winter. I’ve used four different tools to collect leaves in my yard, but since I’ve got a leaf vacuum cleaner, I use it almost exclusively for picking up leaves from my yard. If you’re looking for an easier way to pick up papers, I’ll tell you why I love it so much, as well as a few things I think could work better.
Two years ago, my brother-in-law was downsizing his yard and no longer needed his space in the garden, so he kindly gave it to me. Being a hardware lover, I eagerly drove it into my garage, along with a lawn mower, alternator, leaf window, and a bunch of bikes, some in various states of repair. All I needed to do was replace the pull cord – which cost me $10 and about an hour of my time – and I was good to go.
The lawn sweeper looks like a traditional lawn mower, but up front is a rubber hatch that sucks leaves into the main chamber, where they are scattered and then sent into a heavy-duty collection bag. A new model, such as Troy-Bilt Leaf Vacuum, is sold for $799 at Home Depot (Opens in a new tab).
One of the things I love about the leaf vacuum is that it turns two steps into one: Instead of having to pile all the leaves in a pile and then mulch them, I can do it all in one go.
Of course, if you don’t want to spend $800 on another piece of equipment, you can also buy a lawn mower hooding blade. These are much less expensive – you can get them for around $30-$40 at hardware stores. You won’t leave your garden completely leafless, but studies have shown that leaving some leaves in your garden is beneficial in the long run.
Vacuuming the leaves also helps me solve another problem I have: At one end of my yard is a gorgeous oak about 100 feet high, providing some much-needed shade on hot summer days. However, it also produces a huge amount of walnuts.
One of the things I love about a broom is that it turns two steps into one. Instead of having to pile all the leaves in a pile and then mulch them, I can do it all in one go.
Every 2-3 years, the oak has a so-called mast year, during which it falls much more acorns than in other years. I remember first learning about this phenomenon one spring, when I appeared in my entire backyard what seemed to be the equivalent of a forest of oaks overnight. My wife and I spent hours uprooting young oak seedlings without making any dents. In the end I cut them.
My electric leaf blower/vacuum wasn’t powerful enough to handle the nut, but the garden vacuum proved to be par for the job. It comes with a hose attachment that allows me to lift the nut. It’s very boring and less than perfect – I think there will be a lot of seedlings next spring – but there probably won’t be as many as in years past.
The hose also works great for picking up leaves that collect in the corners of my yard and along the fence. However, you must carry the broom with you.
One last advantage of a lawn broom is that it can also cover small branches—those that are about an inch in diameter, max. Without burning twigs in a fire pit, it’s a good way to get rid of them and use them in my yard.
However, it has two drawbacks. First, it’s a gas powered device, so while it’s not nearly as annoying as a gas-powered leaf blower, it does make more noise than electric models — or a human-powered rake. And because it’s a gas powered machine, pushing it around the yard is a bit heavier than an electric mower.
I also love the vacuum cleaner’s heavy-duty collection bag, which looks like it’s built to last as long as the trees themselves. Its closing mechanism—two small metal tabs that rotate—can be a little tricky, especially if you’re wearing a pair of gardening gloves.
And as mentioned earlier, it’s not cheap, so there’s a lot of money to drop on what is essentially a single-purpose device. But it does its job well, so it can be a good choice for those with a lot of leaves, who don’t want to deal with a leaf blower.
Looking for other fall cleaning tips? You want to make sure you know how to shovel leaves the easy way and the right type of rake to use. If you’re about to upgrade, here are five things to know before buying a leaf blower, and how to use a leaf blower the right way. Instead of packing up your leaves and laying them out on the street, be sure to check out our guide on how to use fallen leaves in your garden.
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