Leaves & Rakes
I enjoyed reading a recent instagram post by Sneeboer about gas-powered blowers being outlawed by the Flemish government in Belgium.
The Flemish government recently decided that municipalities should replace their noisy leaf blowers, brushcutters and hedge trimmers. The noisy devices prove to be more polluting than a car, because they are powered by a two-stroke engine. Fortunately, we have a very environmentally friendly solution for that! And best of all, you can skip the gym too.
We've recently switched to battery powered hand-held blowers for light day-to-day work, and they are proving to be terrific - very quiet and no smelly exhaust fumes. We do still need blowers at certain times of year, for leaves and hardscapes, for the speed and efficiency they bring, but it is easy to over-use them. We try to be careful about it and use brooms and leaf rakes whenever we can.
Sneeboer leaf rakes are in the Gardener's Kit tool line-up now: 20 tines and 7 tines with full-length handles and a short-handled 7 tine shrub rake for bed work. Beautifully crafted, strong tines and mounting. Long handles mean less bending and back strain.
