leaf sweeper worth it?

 Anyone got any views on push leaf sweepers. Not the blower sucker kind
which don't ever seem to stand up to the claims by their manufacturers
but those ones that you just push along. They seem to have larger
containers.

Janet
--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

 
A big barrow and a pair of plywood boards with door handles on the
back. Just gather the leaves in armfuls with this device where they've
blown into drifts. Don't waste time gathering leaves while they're
thinly spread everywhere - they're going to blow into corners sooner
or later.
That will save you quite a lot of work, some disappointment and some
money.

Rod

 In article

Actually on large lawns Rod and with this damp weather it is often
better to get them up as fast as possible as either they will blow onto
the beds and then need taking off of the Plants or they will glue
themselves to the lawn where they will remain impervious to a lawnmower!
I take your point when there is a smallish lawn and a big pile of leaves
but for a 200 = 300 foot lawn surrounded by tress it would be easier to
get the main lot off without bending up and down for about 2 hours then
mow o high setting:)
--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk

 On Fri, 11 Nov 2011 14:52:34 +0000, Janet Tweedy


I'll agree with you that the average electric blower vac isn't much
use if you've got more than one fairly small tree (I only really use
mine for the pick up the bits job round the edges and I only have it
at all because it came as a freebie with a petrol tool). I use a
petrol powered leaf blower which isn't too heavy and easily blows
everything into a heap where it's easy to bag up for transfer to the
leaf pile.

I've never used one of those push things (though they seem very
expensive for what they are) but I can see two possible problems.
Firstly, the leaf drop season usually corresponds with the lawn being
very wet and I'd want to avoid walking back and forth across it as if
I was cutting it - with the blower I don't have to walk anywhere near
half as much over the grass. Secondly, I'd guess that the open
container type that these leaf sweepers seem to have would be
susceptible to anything more than a miniscule breeze and the leaves
would be blowing out a fair bit as you collected them.

Going a bit OT, with some recent experience, I'd say a blower is much
better than a vac from a wildlife perspective. Whilst blowing around
the other day I uncovered a collection of frogs nestling under the
cover of leaves. I dread to think what might have happened to them had
I been using the vac (which is quite powerful and has sucked up
heavier things than frogs in the past).

Cheers, Jake
==========================================
Proud to  be a member of the Taffy Trio
along with Dave and Bill, especially as
the East End, where I'm at, is the drier one :)

 
Which one Jake? I see amateur gardener reviewed them in last weeks issue
but I had never heard of the winner.
--
Janet Tweedy
Dalmatian Telegraph
http://www.lancedal.demon.co.uk