Lawn Sweeper
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Agri-Fab 45-0218 26″
My garden is pretty large and at the ripe age of 52, and although automated lawn sweepers had never once previously crossed my admittedly old fashioned mind, my back was beginning to tell me that I needed to find an alternative. Hiring someone to do the sweeping every time leaves fell was not an option, for a man of such meagre means as myself, so I began looking for some tools to help me to do the job myself, all the while being kind to my back. I went online and found this Agri-Fab Push Lawn Sweeper (amazon link), which claimed it could sweep leaves just by pushing, much like a lawn mower but with less effort in pushing. Since leaves fall quite often where I live, I was quite eager for a solution, so I quickly bought it knowing I would just return it if it didn’t live up to these claims.
Overall, I’m satisfied with what I bought – not ecstatic, for reasons I will outline below, but this lawn sweeper does the job as well as anything else I’ve tried. It’s not a magic solution, since you still have to do the pushing, but the lawn sweeper reduces your time and effort tenfold, meaning that sweeping leaves from your garden is no longer a task you dread but one you can actually look forward to. (Almost!)
A few key issues with this Agri-Fab lawn sweeper (amazon link) which need to be addressed are as follows, though I’m not sure much can be done about them, if I am perfectly honest. It’s just the way it is. For example, if it’s been raining and the leaves outside are extremely wet, don’t bother trying to use this lawn sweeper. Aside from getting all muddy yourself, the sweeper doesn’t work as well on wet leaves which are ‘stuck’ to the ground as it does on dry leaves. So it’s best to wait for some decent weather and check the state of the leaves before committing to it. Another problem with this lawn sweeper is that it’s not really meant for uneven ground. If you’ve got a reasonably flat lawn or garden, it will work GREAT, but if your garden is very hilly, it’s hard to expect a two wheeled sweeper to be able to work to its full potential if one wheel is off the ground slightly. If your garden is a hill, as long as it’s an even hill, it should be fine, but if your terrain is all over the place, it may be that you have to use your rake. My main tip for getting the most out of your Agri-Fab lawn sweeper (amazon link) is tweaking the height of the brushes and testing, testing until you are getting optimal performance. The tool is there but it requires just a little patience at the start to gain access to its rewards.
Speaking of rakes, I don’t think you should throw it away just yet. You’re still going to need your rake for the small, intricate parts of the garden that the bigger lawn sweeper can’t get to. A rake is a standard tool for any garden and shouldn’t be cast aside hastily.
As for the general construction of the Agri Fab lawn sweeper (amazon link), it’s made of sturdy zinc-plated steel in the good old USA. Although I’ve only had it a couple months, I’ve had no problems / malfunctions with it so far and it seems to me to be built to last. In the unlikely event I do have problems with it in the future, it’s comforting to know that this lawn sweeper is covered by a 3 year warranty, just in case.
Despite the shortcomings which I think would apply to all lawn sweepers (they’re not magic wands) I think this is a relatively new tool which should form part of any gardener’s shed to make the dreaded raking of leaves a thing of the past.
