Leaf blower

They are as heavy and cumbersome as they look. I have just sold one on Ebay. DH used to use it, but I found that it made me more exhausted than raking up the leaves would have done. That one had wheels which were supposed to make it easier to manoevre.

I found it heavy too, and swaying from side to side with it really pulls on your back.

We got rid of ours too because it was just too heavy and cumbersome..

That bloke in the advert using one to push his granddaughter on a swing makes it look light as a feather!

Sorry....I've never seen the point of them. Watched someone the other day blowing the leaves off a pavement into the road.......Yup a few minutes later they were all over the place again. Let the leaves fall, get a rake and make a pile.....you can make leaf mould by putting them is hessian sacks....or as Monty Don does....bin liners with holes stabbed in. Or you may be lucky as we were a few years ago....a neighbour grew blueberries in containers and she collected the leaves for leaf mould - saved us the bother.

My gardener uses one to blow his clippings, dead leaves etc. down the drive so he can shovel them in his bag.

As you say, Hilda, there's no point in just wafting the leaves about without actually collecting them.

Don't buy one, even DH gave ours away because it was too heavy, and although they say some are lighter, they are still quite a weight ( and wouldn't work otherwise I guess.)

I listened to Gardeners' Question Time from Belfast on Sunday. Bunny Guinness was saying that she used to hate blowers until she got a lithium battery one, which she loves as it is so light. You can listen to her comments at 40.00 minutes on the iplayer recording.
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07vwh0p#play

In our last garden with 1 ash, 1 oak, 6 silver birches,1 maple, all fully mature, we tried two leaf blowers. Both became heavy as leaves were picked up. Also the leaves were very difficult to pick up when wet, which was most of the time.

Our solution was to set the mower high and mowed them up, it worked very well. The ones on the drive and hard landscape were just raked up, the old fashioned way.
When we moved we left the newer leaf blower, as a present for the new owners.

J52 that's exactly what DH does.

I thought leaf blowers did just that, blew leaves, not picked them up!?

Sounds like you mean some sort of leaf hoover, J52.

Bit of a thumbs down coming across here!

Thanks for that link shysal - I will get on to it.

I really did just want a blower to get the leaves into a pile when they are on the gravel and difficult to rake up; but it does look as though there are no products as simple as that! Perhaps I will just take my vacuum out and set it to blow! Or maybe my hairdryer would do the trick!

Well the two we had, one Flymo the other Bosch had a switch where you blew to gather them into a pile and then flicked the switch to suck them up into a bag. I am under the impression that they all do this. Why would you just want to blow them into a pile?

So we can bag them up or burn them.

They do suck as well as blow Ana. Ours is a big beast and cost me £3 at a car boot sale. We always have it on suck. It is good on gravel areas. We are raking leaves almost all year round and put them in dumpy bags to rot down.

This lithium battery leaf blower doesn't suck up!

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00GZLFQKM/ref=s9_zgift_hd_bw_b7kxj5_g60_i3?pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pf_rd_s=merchandised-search-5&pf_rd_r=0MG1B4CFE0EARJPCREWD&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=16db59a0-30b2-5b13-bb6f-82e00b80336b&pf_rd_i=114627031

ours is a lithium battery one, works best if I blow and OH picks up at the same time. It has a harness which takes the weight. I usually pick up about 40 bags of leaves a year, can't leave them all on the garden and certainly not on the gravelled area as I don't want leaf mulch encouraging the weeds. I wouldn't mind so much but we only have 4 trees, the problem ones are the other side of our wall, but they prefer dropping their leaves in my garden. Vacuums are not so good as they only like dry leaves - some hope round here.

Lucky girl I would use a pointy stick. Not a quick job obviously but when you get so many on the stick you can put them in a bag for leaf mould. ???

Aldi are advertising one for this Thursday at about £20. It blows and sucks according to the leaflet. I was wondering about getting one.

Also wondered if it would blow snow off paths in the winter??!! (Save shovelling! I hate shovelling snow!)

I have one that blows and sucks. It is heavy and cumbersome, but useful in suck mode to clean up around areas that are difficult to rake. hardly ever use it as a blower. The petrol blowers the coucil use look lighter and more powerful. Snow -- I doubt it is powerful enough.

In a word blowers, suck.

With you there Wobbly!

If you have invested in a leaf blower to keep the exterior of your home and property looking tidy, you undoubtedly want value for your money. So better choose the right warranty for each brand that you intend to buy.