Every homeowner dreads the autumn season when leaves begin to fall from branches and land on your beautiful lawn. The worst thing about fall is that you can spend hours a day raking, piling, and disposing of leaves, just to have to do it again on the following day. It gets frustrating having to repeat the process every single day throughout the long 3-month autumn season.
We would all love to have a clean lawn and backyard throughout the year, but sometimes we’re limited by the amount of time we can spend each day cleaning. For those of you who don’t have the time or are just unwilling to spend hours on end raking, there’s a handy, multi-purpose tool you can consider purchasing. It’s called a lawn sweeper.
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What is a lawn sweeper?
A lawn sweeper is a garden tool that removes debris like fallen leaves, grass clippings, pine needles, and other messes from your grassy lawns or driveway. Using a rotating brush, it picks up each and every piece of debris that clutters your lawns and deposits it into a hopper. With a tug of a rope, you can unload the hopper and dispose of the mess or pile it up high and let your kids jump in it. Or if you’re making a compost pile, bring all the fallen organic matter into your pile and let it compost naturally (Or buy a composter).
Types of lawn sweepers
Push lawn sweeper
This lawn sweeper works simply by pushing the unit like you would a lawn mower, but instead of cutting grass, it uses a rotating brush mechanism that picks up whatever removable debris you run over and places it into the hopper. When the hopper is full, simply wheel the unit to the location where you want to dispose and burn the leaves, unhook the hopper, and let the collection of leaves and other debris fall out.
Perhaps the only drawback is, since you’ve invested in a lawn sweeper to reduce the amount of manual labor you have to do, you still have to pull up your sleeves and do most of the work. The rotary brush and hopper design make it easier to do, but you’re still pushing the device without any help.
Powered lawn sweeper
The second type is a push lawn sweeper but it comes with a gasoline- or electric-powered motor which spins the brushes. This type of lawn sweeper is more effective than the traditional push lawn sweeper, and thanks to the powerful motor, it cuts down work-time significantly.
One drawback of this lawn sweeper type is that you’re still manually walking around your lawn and backyard to pick up every single fallen leaf and twig. In addition, some models only have one speed which is either “too fast” or “too slow.” Either way, the tool will have trouble picking up any fallen debris that resides peacefully on your lawn. The best models are those that have variable speeds since certain debris require different brush speeds to be picked up effectively.
Tow-behind lawn sweeper
The tow behind lawn sweeper is perhaps the most commonly used sweeper out there. This lawn sweeper is hitched to the back of your riding mower and dragged all over your lawn and backyard. Using the same rotary brush and hopper setup, it sends whatever materials it picks up backward and into the hopper. When you’re done or the hopper is full, simply drag the unit to any location you want and pull on the hopper’s rope to unload it.
Put the hopper back upright and resume work. One thing to keep in mind when using this type of lawn sweeper is due to their design, it’s only effective when being dragged by a riding mower or similar vehicle. Pulling the tool manually will do little good for your lawn and back muscles.
Best Tow Behind Lawn Sweeper: Buying Guide
ConclusionWhen you don’t have the time or energy to manually rake, pile, and dispose of all the leaves and debris that clutter your lawn, the lawn sweeper can be an extremely valuable tool. There are three types of lawn sweepers out there – traditional push lawn sweepers, electric- or gas-powered lawn sweepers, and tow-behind lawn sweepers. They each have their own sets of pros and cons so it’s your job to research and find a particular model that works best for you, your lawn, and your backyard.
Lawn Sweeper | Recommended
Last update on 2024-03-29 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API
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