As the first brightly coloured leaf falls to the ground a new season begins. Not the season of autumn, no, but the season of complaining about leaf blowers. It’s an annual tradition, a sort of social media festivity that has taken root. It brings people together from across the whole of society.
What Does A Leaf Blower Do?
A leaf blower is a powered fan, intended to move light debris over a large area.
A leaf blower is not a substitute for a rake and broom. They’re intended to gather material spread over a large area into a small area so that it can be collected. Even the most skilled operator can’t get material straight into a bag or barrow.
No other machines make people quite so angry
Where appropriate you can disperse material under trees and shrubs, rather than collecting. In some gardens more traditional composting is the better option.
What’s The Problem?
Noise is a major issue. A leaf blower is no noisier in terms of decibels than any machine with a comparable size of engine, but the noise is higher-pitched and that is very annoying. It’s annoying for both the user and anyone around.
Leaf blowers can cause injury to operators. Tennis elbow is common with hand-held machines, including electric ones, due to the side-to-side operation. The straps of backpack machines are notorious for causing shoulder problems (the trick is to tie them together at the front using an elasticated strap).
Battery operated but not quiet or environmentally ‘clean’
Pollution-wise they’re no better or worse than other 2-stroke engines of a comparable size. 2-stroke engines, where oil is mixed with fuel, are a little more polluting than 4-stroke engines of the same size. Using a high quality 2-stroke oil does make a difference, and any machine needs to be serviced and maintained properly.
Battery tools are great. They’re somewhat lighter, somewhat quieter (although they’re still noisy and high-pitched), and have the major advantage that their pollution is being caused somewhere else in the world. Lithium mining is far from a clean process and tends to be done in parts of the world with poor safety and environmental regulations.
Environmentally conscious gardeners should look first and foremost at reducing their reliance on powered tools of all kinds, and go from there. Looking for ways to garden without machines will also save you a lot of money!
Who Uses Leaf Blowers?
The main users of leaf blowers are professional gardeners.
Leaf blowers are really not suited for small gardens, even if there aren’t close neighbours to annoy. In small spaces the air eddies around and just disperses material; you’re likely to get a face full of leaves too.
You’ve got 10 minutes to remove all these wet leaves…
Blowers allow gardeners to clear large volumes of material in a fairly short period of time. If you’re gardening against the clock and have a finite time to get in, do as much as you can and then get out, then a blower can be very useful. However, and I cannot stress this enough, a good rake is going to be the most important investment for the absolute majority of gardeners.
If you have large numbers of leaves to deal with then don’t waste time with a little dainty wire rake. These are for people who have a lot of time on their hands; get yourself a Chelwood-style rake. These are wide (mine has a 36” head) with tines that go straight down but then curve back on themselves.
Side-on view of a Chelwood style rake, a brilliant tool for any garden
You simply push the rake forward, as though you were using a broom, and drag back. You’ll be astonished how easy the rake is to use. Mine is an absolutely vital part of my kit in autumn, even though I will use one or other of my blowers to cover big areas.
Defending The Indefensible?
This is not a defence of the leaf blower.
Leaf blowers are efficient over a big area but they’re not nice machines to use, and whether they save you much effort is very much up for debate.
Also if you have close neighbours and start using any machine at unsociable times, or excessively frequently, you will cause friction. Sometimes it’s unavoidable, but to quote Spider-Man “With great power comes great responsibility”.
These machines need to be used properly and should only be used when there’s a real and present reason why a broom and/or rake cannot be used. There’s also little point using a blower to corral leaves in windy weather, although if you’re dispersing leaves rather than collecting them this is less of an issue.
A Changing World
Leaf blowers are a symptom of a bigger and more complex problem.
Until comparatively recently the ideal of gardening was a perfect lawn with regimented borders. The wealthy could use armies of gardeners to keep everything just as it should be. Gardening was about demonstrating human mastery of nature, as demonstrated by the use of chemicals to keep insects at bay.
As machines became more and more accessible it became possible for people of more modest means to have large manicured gardens without having to pay gardeners to maintain them. Motorised lawn mowers meant that one operator could trim huge areas of grass, meaning that lawns could become a key part of gardens. Hedge trimmers made the job of maintaining large hedges, tall as well as long, much easier. Chemicals and machines allowed a whole culture of gardening to exist.
Would you cut down beautiful trees to avoid having leaves to collect?
Increasing interest in ecological matters is driving a change to a more nature-led style of gardening. The cultivated wild style has become the default style of the gardening elites. It’s still not widely accepted yet, beyond the general nodding of heads at the work of great designers of the modern age like Piet Oudolf.
That mastery of nature that was the hallmark of the elite is now the garden of the ordinary gardener. The idea that gardens should meet certain standards of tidiness and order is still very much with us. A lot of people who have gardens, outdoor green spaces, are not all that interested in gardens and gardening; as long as the garden looks tidy then they don’t really care how it’s done.
Historically large lawns were a sign of status and the mastery of nature
Some of these people might, if they have big trees and deciduous shrubs, own a leaf blower. For them the collection of leaves is wholly and totally a chore, as if someone had dumped a load of garbage in their gardens. Committed gardeners know that a few leaves here and there are not a disaster, but non-gardeners seeking perfect holy cleanliness don’t. They’re certainly not going to use a rake if they think there’s an easier option, and if it all becomes too much then there’s a good chance that autumn colour will be swapped for ‘clean’ evergreens.
Mow And Blow
Those who think of gardening as a chore will, if they can afford to, farm out the maintenance of their gardens to outside companies. Usually someone mows the lawn while someone else trims edges and blows the debris around, then as quickly as they arrive they move on.
It’s a business model that relies on efficiency; customers don’t want to pay more than they have to, and as long as the price is right and the garden looks presentable they just don’t care.
Whether you like these companies or not, they’re still gardeners. They might not do the same work or have the same approaches, but we should move away from the vitriol direct at them.
Privilege And Good Luck
If you have lots of time to spend on your garden you are very lucky. If you have control over how you can work then you’re very lucky.
Gardening against the clock is quite different, and doing it for other people can be quite challenging. You arrive at a garden and have a finite time to deal with things that have happened since your previous visit, keep the garden moving forward, and leave it in a state in which it will look good for the next fortnight.
Earning money from gardening is always challenging.
The use of leaf blowers is not, as some commentators like to say, a sign that professional gardeners are lazy or lack the intelligence to do their jobs properly. Instead they’re a symptom of a gardening culture still obsessed with ideas of cleanliness but unable to afford to commit resources, time or money, to getting some jobs done.
More relaxed gardens are the mark of the new gardening elite
As I’ve said, I’m not here to defend leaf blowers. I’m here to say that they’re part of something we need to bear in mind, that there is an awkward relationship that exists between the idea of what makes a garden and the resources gardeners and non-gardeners alike are able, or willing, to expend. Gardening is peculiar in being constantly fiscally pruned; the prevailing idea is that gardeners will achieve more and more to a higher and higher standard, but every time a bit cheaper.
They are irritating machines, but please spare a thought for that poor soul strapped to one. Your not relying on such a machine is a privilege you have; those of us who end up using these infernal machines would much rather be paid to rake up leaves in the autumn sun, listening to the song of birds.
I think testosterone has something to do with those macho blowers (gas or battery powered), Rakes seem kinder and gentler..
An interesting take…
Do lawnmowers and hedge trimmers also exist to soothe the male ego I wonder?
not sure about those, but chainsaws, for sure.
Yes. Definitely. Where I live, the man with the biggest riding lawnmower is the macho man of the ‘hood. It’s also a competitive thing.
Made me think , my urban yard doesn’t really need a leaf blower, but my rakes have fallen apart with age. Looked on line, including the Chelwood company site, and could not find a rake that looked like yours anywhere. Do they make them any more? What are the features that make the rake the most useful in your eyes.
Most places sell the same few designs of rake, but there are more specialised rakes out there that are much better than tine rakes or hard rakes for bulky materials.
My Chelwood style rake was quite expensive but it’s paid for itself a thousand times over. It’s the rake I use over and over for grass and debris collecting; I love it!
To answer the second part of your question, the tines facing down at 90 degrees (which you might find on a landscaping rake) allow you to collect a load of leaves with each pass, especially thanks to the tines curving inward which creates a sort of scoop. That curving also allows you to push the rake forward, reducing the fatigue of ‘lift, move forward, pull back’.
Might be worth sending the picture of my rake in this article to a supplier of garden tools; might be a special order but I’d be astonished if the design wasn’t available in the US.
Ace Hardware shows an Ames 20″ x 54″ Wood Lawn Rake that has the same curved tines as Ben’s.
I have a small urban garden with microscopic front lawn, densely planted naturalistic plantings elsewhere, and interconnecting gravel + stone pathways all around the house. The leaf blower is the perfect (and only) tool for keeping the gravel free of fallen leaves and random organic bits + pieces (in this season, a storm of pecans!). Delicate control of the blower lets me skim-blow stuff into the beds without disturbing the gravel. Best done when everything is loose and dry. Keeping the gravel “clean” prevents buildup of organic matter (I believe discouraging weeds). And the tidy pathways are one of the most important organizing design features (“cue of care”) in my garden. So I love the blower, used sparingly!
Terrific defense — I would have said the same thing about a few of the smaller parts of my garden — including front and back porches, where a lot escapes the broom, but little escapes the blower (battery powered). –MW
Gravel is a challenge. Raking is great in principle, but it’s a challenge to get all the material off gravel. And you’re absolutely right that keeping debris down is an important part of reducing weeds.
I have a long (.15 miles) completely wooded driveway. I’ve raked it in the past but it took far more hours and more effort than I really care to devote to that task. A leaf blower makes fairly quick work of it and the other areas in the yard that need to be cleared of leaves so that they don’t become slippery messes. I then run the mower over the leaf windrows I’ve created and mulch the result. I’m in a rural area so there aren’t too many people to annoy and I avoid doing it early on weekend mornings.
Sounds good to me.
Ode to the Battery-Operated Leaf Blower! To say that my outdoor lifestyle and aesthetic has been immeasurably improved by this little machine would be an understatement. I have an urban garden similar to Amy’s, with curated spaces—sitting areas, decks with ornamental plantings, and pea gravel and stone pathways connecting different areas, all of which are surrounded by mature trees. Unfortunately, a few of those trees are of the weedy variety and relentlessly drop all manner of detritus onto my living spaces most of the year in one succession after another (the greatest menace being the Siberian Elm, an absolute terror). Before I discovered this little machine, I was in a forever battle and always losing. Now, while still battling, I feel more like I’m setting nature right, delicately and targetedly lifting and puffing all fallen matter to their final resting places, where they can decompose and enrich my planting beds. As Amy referred to, the “skimming” method is the best technique in the world to keep the pea gravel tidy. And lest anyone think I am an insensitive and selfish neighbor, I can assure all but the most aurally fussy that my little leaf blower makes more of a whooshing, Jackie O purr than a high-pitched screech set on 11. Mine sounds like a breezy noise machine on medium. It is delightful and a friend.
Good to know that it’s helping you. It’s what it’s there for.
Can you tell us what type of blower you have? I’m on the hunt for one with the ‘whooshing, Jackie-O purr’ that mimics a noise machine!!
Ben — I loved the casual snark of “…and have the major advantage that their pollution is being caused somewhere else in the world.”
And that’s only the mining of the Lithium. There is still the not-so-minor problem of the residual black sludge created in their disposal, after everything that can be recycled, is.
I find myself in agreement with several commenters however that they are a godsend when you can’t afford to have a gardener wield them, much less a rake — and think that the public might be better served by more garden media articles on using them thoughtfully, instead of a binary ‘for’ or ‘against’. There is an underlying conversation to be had– and it starts with the cluenessness of people who can afford the alternatives lecturing those of us who can’t. It really gets my blood up. Perhaps the common folk shouldn’t have gardens? Or completely change what we instinctively find beautiful or calming to something wilder that’s within our modest budget? That’s such a tough call.
I think you’re asking these same questions, just from a slightly different perspective. Your clients have hired you to do something in an impossible time frame because they either don’t wish to pay for more hours, or can’t pay for more hours, and/or don’t wish to do it themselves. I am looking at a job I must do myself in an impossible amount of time too. The blower is a tool that can help both of us. – MW
Gardening media talks a lot about plants and design, which is great, but little about the boring practicalities of gardening.
When was the last time you saw anything about safety in the garden, for example? Or discussing the basics of tools and machines? It’s assumed that we just know these things.
We can do so much better than binary for and against.
I appreciate this perspective. It invites those who are annoyed by leaf blowers to think about them from the standpoint of the users, who are predominantly professional gardeners. They are probably earning a marginal living and rushing to get as many customers into their schedule as they can.
I’d like to hear his perspective used for more issues. The world would be a more peaceful place with a bit more “live-and-let-live.”
I live in Oakland, California, where the use of gas-powered leaf blowers was banned in 2023. It didn’t seem to reduce the sound of leaf blowers in my neighborhood. Like many laws, it probably isn’t being enforced. Believe me, the police have more important things to do in Oakland.
Ben, you’ve covered the leaf blower issue with equanimity. But I’d like to address the issue of “gardeners” that one might hire. These are the “landscapers” who know how to mow a lawn, blow the debris around, and edge the borders. Just don’t ask them to weed your garden beds, because they’ll also pull up the perennials that you’ve planted. They’re also the ones who typically pile up bark mulch like volcanoes around the base of trees. In short, I cannot label them as gardeners, professional or otherwise. As I’m 86 years old, I’ve had to relinquish much of the gardening I used to do myself, so I’ve learned that we have to monitor their every move because they’re basically hacks. If you want someone who knows gardening, then prepare to pay appropriately for the expertise.
I wasn’t able to find the type of rake that Ben referred-to here in the U.S. However, I have a rake that is designed to also scoop up the leaves, and it works great. Since we probably can’t publish a link here to the actual product, an Internet search on “17 in. 3-in-1 Ergonomic Pickup Rake” should bring it up.
oakland is progressive? wow. i hate leaf blowers and whoever thinks they are not used in small
subdivision yards needs to come to Lexington ky where people (no I don’t consider them gardeners –many are homeowners) are so enamored of these noise machines they blow the leaves here, then there, then back again–for hours. Could it be a sport of sorts? I suppose they consider using a rake to be beneath them. Can an engineer out there explain why these infernal machines cannot be made quieter? is it cost, is it design is it inertia?
I have no problem with labour-saving machinery, but I often wonder why they can’t be quieter and more efficient. After all, most of us don’t have time to do all these tasks by hand, and rotary mowers are pretty much useless unless you already have a perfect lawn. But we don’t need to be deafened while we do it, and it must be terrible for people who work with them all day.
Noise is a major problem with any machine, including electric ones. The big issue, and one that is particularly key with blowers, is that you often need a large motor or engine. You’d think a blower, essentially a modified desk fan, wouldn’t use much energy, but in fact they have particularly large motors/engines and a loud whirring of the fan, hence the noise.
I’m not saying that all the people who have these machines are using them appropriately.
As for sound, leaf blowers have particularly large motors or engines, plus there is the sound of the fan on top.
As a long time member of the PLWA (Professional Leaf Wranglers of America), who in the fall needs to move more than a foot of leaves from an 8500 square foot area as much as 100 feet in distance to the street for the city to move for mulching, I think raking those by hand (which I did 40 years ago) would be a death sentence. It took four hours last Saturday to move that quantity with a light wind and a backpack blower. And yes, I can put them right where I want them with judicious use of the throttle. The back half of the property, which people cannot see from the street because of a 50 foot upward elevation change and is loaded with beautiful maple, oak and hickory trees gets mulched in the open areas with a 5.5 HP mulching mower, but the area under the canopy is left to sit. Great for pollinators and other insects etc that lay eggs and what all for the next year’s crop of insects. Your vicious jab at folks who use these machines as “testosterone charged” makes me think of the toxic masculinity accusations of people who don’t like how some men take care of issues in our society. I still can use the rake, but it would take me days to get the same job done. And I only do this in the city. My 40 acres of farm, with 13 acres of maples and oaks, gets ZERO effort because it’s in the country, and nobody cares! You’d probably be upset we plant the crops with a small diesel tractor instead of using an adz.
It sounds to me like you’ve put a lot of thought into how you tackle leaves, and I commend that.
And raking that lot by hand would definitely be too much.
Ben, do you find there’s an element of snobbery in people criticizing machinery? I mean, it’s great to use hand tools if you’re not pressed for time or can pay someone for the hours, but the rest of us need the help machinery provides.
Maybe it’s about appropriate use (like the Amish) rather than a blanket ban to appease sensibilities.
Oh completely. Appropriate use is definitely important, and it’s something all gardeners could do better. But there is definitely an element of snobbery and a lack of understanding.
Gas blowers are an abomination, but I can see good reasons for both landscapers and gardeners to use electric blowers. An electric blower is a big help for people with patios & driveways. Still, they can be loud, so smart operators will use ear protection and avoid use before a reasonable hour. That said, there is no substitute for a well-made rake.
A well-make rake is great if you’re not dealing with time pressure and a huge workload.
I don’t understand why you push the leaves and then pull?
I rake, but I like to rake. I use a battery blower for the hard surfaces.
With a 36″ rake it means not having to lift the rake, put it down, pull it back, and repeat. When leaves are damp and/or there are lots of them it also opens the layer up to make them easier to move.
Ah! Have to try that.
Acorns.
We’ve had a mast year and many of our paths have become skating rinks. Totally lethal especially on slopes. Very grateful for a machine which will shift them. They used to be a great feast once for pigs!
Ben, I hear you. I am a sweeper and a raker. I get it about safely and slipping on sidewalks. But until we change the aesthetics so that the goal isn’t pristine green lawns in fall, it is hard to fault those who are doing their jobs in the efficient way that economics dictate. In my neighborhood, there are gardens and lawns with narry a leaf (thanks to folks doing what’s asked of them or trying to satisfy the aesthetics of the person hiring them) and then putting out fall decorations using plastic leaves on a stick. All I can do is shake my head
As with so many things in life it is not a black and white, right or wrong issue. Similarly, when it comes to tools, it is not the device or the tool that is the problem but how it is being employed. We now live in Italy and believe me, if anyone knows how to motorise just about any tool, it is the Italians. My issue with leaf blowers is when they are used instead of sweeping up dust and dirt. The local council operatives can frequently be seen amid clouds of dust accompanied by the droning sound of the leaf blower. As soon as they have left and the dust settles, it looks the same as before. Needless to say it isn’t just the council guys who engage in this pointless activity.
I have no issue with powered tools, we have a ride on mower to cut the two and half acres of grass, a chainsaw for harvesting firewood and managing the copse as well as a petrol engined strimmer and a petrol engined chipper. I don’t have these pieces of kit to massage my fragile male ego, instead we bought them to manage the property in the best way we could which is also about being the best neighbour that we can be.