Comments on: What Happened to the Rake?

By: Brian

Brian — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 14:50:58 +0000

Boy – just ask a simple question and you find out quite a lot about how folks think.

Raking and shredding leaves in a mower should surely be good enough for most people – and if you live in a neighborhood with small yards and few trees then using a leaf blower – especially a powerful one – has to be a little strange. Furthermore there is little or no excuse for people to be using any powered garden tool at times whch are bound to annoy close neighbors

But if you have a big yard and a lot of trees – well that’s a completely different story. Using a mower is also not such a great idea if the tree debris includes larger twigs. A leaf blower is a great tool – in the right place

It is the small jobs and the large jobs that we tend to put off until it is too late to do them. Clearing leaves from a yard is just one such job for lots of people. Having a great tool that can turn a long and tiring job into a much more easily managed one is no bad thing. You just need to be fait to your neighbors.

By: Snowed In | Chiot's Run

Snowed In | Chiot's Run — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 15:59:12 +0000

[...] up into our house). We still like to shovel our driveway, instead of a snow blower. It’s like raking leaves, a great reason to get out on a beautiful day and a great workout (keeps those gardening muscles in [...]

By: Pampered Mom

Pampered Mom — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 03:19:14 +0000

I’ve actually pondered this a bit in our neighborhood. There was one yard where there were barely any leaves, but the gentleman was using a leaf blower. It actually looked to me like it would take him more time to do it that way than it would if he just used a rake.

I think the oddest way I’ve seen someone use a leaf blower, though, was when I watched the neighbor yesterday cleaning out his gutters with it. So very odd…

We’re actually raking all of our leaves to the curb this year. I typically like to rake them into the landscaping and use that as mulch, but decided not to this year as I’d really like to minimize the chances of the fungal issues with our maple trees this year. It certainly was much quicker to rake them into the landscaping, though.
Pampered Mom´s last blog ..Paint

By: Sarah Jane

Sarah Jane — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 06:35:51 +0000

Rake > EVIL LEAF BLOWER!
Sarah Jane´s last blog ..New Moon Swap!

By: Karen

Karen — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 01:20:50 +0000

I live in the suburbs and that is all I hear all weekend -the incessant drone of those darn blowers. I mow my small lawn with a rotary mower and rake our leaves of which there are many. I compost about 1/3 of them and the rest bag up for the town to collect. Our town takes our leaves and composts them and then in the spring offers the compost for free. It is a pretty good deal. Years ago I got a blower at a tag sale for a dollar to blow the leaves out of my perennial beds but it really did not work that well so now I pluck by hand what remains after careful raking with my very small rake.

By: MAYBELLINE

MAYBELLINE — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 05:11:05 +0000

We use the lawnmower to mulch the leaves on the lawn and a broom to sweep them up everywhere else.
MAYBELLINE´s last blog ..Volunteers

By: Anythya

Anythya — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 04:54:56 +0000

Well im 21 and for some unknown reason i absolutley have always loved traditional ways and use them =D …i agree leaf blowers are costly and dont even work they just make more mess in my oppinion and yes it is a awful annoying sound i much prefer the good old rake ….i just dont get why people have to invent stupid usless lazy ways to do things hence the leaf blower, garlic chopper (i much perfer the herb crushers nothing quite like hand crushing the stuff takes away stress to =P ) you know what else i miss the good old quite non electric house vacuum sweeper instead of a vacuum with all its noise ….and you just cant buy them anymore =( i feel like i was born in the wrong era lol like for instance today i made cottage cheese from scratch (i made lactose-free, not soy, cottage cheese to) and yet i live directly across from a westfields and have the money to buy cheese …its not im lazy i just perfer to do it myself its fun and satisfying and i always know what goes into it =D ….i agree bring back the traditional ways and the barter system they were amazing =D

By: Susy

Susy — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 22:13:33 +0000

Thanks for the tip on the bamboo rake. I generally try to buy natural material items, but I’ve had this rake for quite a while. I have a small metal one (only about 6″ wide) that I use for cleaning out debris from the flowerbeds and around plants where a big rake won’t work).

By: Monica

Monica — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:54:24 +0000

I rarely rake—only spots that have to have it so they won’t get lost ;-D
However…when I do I use a bamboo rake and I highly recommend them. They are a dream to use. I use a metal one for smoothing my raised beds though since the bamboo is not quite right for that job.
I HATE blowers—though I do have an electric one for the very very very occasional use. I try as hard as I can not to use it but sometimes it is the only thing that gets all the “gunk” out of the rocks next to the house.
Monica´s last blog ..Rosehip Jelly

By: WaterRoots

WaterRoots — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 13:13:25 +0000

We have ‘his’ and ‘hers’ rakes in our shed. This weekend, my husband and I spent an hour or so outdoors raking up whatever leaves were left. The last batch he mulched with the lawn mower. It was such a beautiful weekend, and we enjoyed the time together.

Most of my neighbours rake. I’ve yet to see anyone in this neighbourhood using a leaf blower, although I did see a man across the street from our home using a vacuum.