Lawn sweepers: put away the rake and still have a clean lawn
The most efficient way to sweep grass and leaves from your lawn
Are you tired of raking up the tall grass in your yard after mowing or the leaves that seem to fall from the first cool day until well into the fall season? You might be looking for a lawn sweeper to ease your burden. The lawn sweeper does exactly what the name suggests, sweeping up whatever is in its path so you don’t have to spend your valuable time raking and then picking up whatever is in your yard.
I am sure raking has some physical benefits most of probably need, but if your yard is like mine, the sheer size makes the notion seem silly. With the lawn sweeper I have, one that is pulled behind my John Deere riding mower, I can quickly run over an area of excess grass or leaves and immediately knock out a job that would take as much as an hour the old fashioned way.
Push lawn sweepers
The sweeper has a rotating brush type apparatus that does the work
Most of the sweepers you see will have a shaft that ha large wheels on each end. This shaft will also have some brush type attachments that come in contact with the ground when your sweeper is in use. These brushes rotate around the shaft, propelling the swept matter into a hopper behind where the grass clippings, leaves or other matter is collected.
Most all of the sweepers have an open hopper, allowing you to gauge how full your collection unit is so you can dump it when necessary. The manufacturers have worked to design the unit for maximum efficiency and will included a piece of rope that attaches to the top of the hopper to allow you to unload the full collection chamber from the seat of whatever you use to tow the sweeping device.
The manual machine has a similar method of emptying your load of debris although is quite a bit more manual. Again the decision of which to buy will rest mainly on the size of your lawn. The type of material you intend to pick up may also factor in to your decision, so give this some thought before you buy and end up regretting your choice.
Two-behind lawn sweepers
There are two styles: pull behind or a push model
The lawn sweeper comes in two versions, either a people powered model or one you can pull behind your riding lawn mower or four-wheeler, electric cart or other powered vehicle. Obviously the choice will be dependent on how large the area is you are trying to keep looking nice. Even a great tool like the sweeper will become burdensome if you try to manually push it over too large an area.
The pull behind unit comes in larger widths to try to match up with the varying size of riding mower decks. This allows you to use the sweeper as you mow your grass to try to limit the amount of time you spend on the entire process. If you have a well fertilized lawn or particular section the sweeper will prove to be a treasured asset.
Best results come with dry material
If you are able to use the sweeper when the grass or leaves are dry you are going to have a better experience. Wet material can cause the machine to work less efficiently, meaning you will need to make more trips over the area to achieve your goal. It only makes sense if you consider trying to rake wet leaves or freshly cut grass and how much more effort is required.
You may even consider blowing the taller grass into a type of wind row as a farmer would with hay to make your efforts more successful. The lawn sweeper is a great tool for your lawn care arsenal if you learn how to best utilize its ability to ease your lawn care burden.
