My neighbor said skip the leaf blower and just rake, so I tried it for a month

Okay so my neighbor Jeff, he's like 70 and has this perfect yard every year. He kept telling me I was wasting my time with my gas leaf blower, said it was bad for the soil and the bugs. I laughed it off at first, but last month I finally gave in and just used a rake for all my fall cleanup. Honestly, it took me about twice as long the first weekend, maybe 3 hours instead of 1.5, but by the third weekend I noticed my lawn actually looked healthier. The grass was greener in spots where I used to blow everything away. And I saved like $12 in gas that month. My back was a little sore at first but it's fine now. Has anyone else found that going manual actually helped their yard more than power tools? Jeff said it also keeps carbon in the ground, which sounds a bit woo-woo but maybe he's onto something.

3 comments

3 Comments

fiona_murphy24d ago

Oh wow that's a cool experiment! One thing though, the gas savings might be a little more than $12 since you also saved on the oil mix and wear and tear on the blower. Those things add up fast over a season. I switched to a manual reel mower two years ago and my lawn actually looks way better, no more brown stripes from the gas mower scalping it.

the_lucas7d ago

Started raking last fall after using a blower for years, and my lawn really did look better by spring. @paul286 is right that blowers dont scalp like mowers do, but I think they still pull up a little topsoil and dust off the grass blades too much. Funny how Jeff's old school advice turned out to help both the yard and my wallet.

paul28624d ago

Gas blowers don't really "scalp" lawns like a mower does though, that's two totally different things. The brown stripes are from the mower cutting too low, not from using a blower.