Corralling Leaves to Do Their Mulching Job
I want leaves on my dirt. As a mulch, they conserve the moisture content of the soil in summer and keep the soil from becoming too muddy in winter. During this last week of rain, fallen leaves have kept plants and walls from being splashed with mud and have prevented any erosion of valuable topsoil. In all seasons, a leafy mulch moderates temperature extremes and swings.
Even in decay, leaves recycle nutrients and eventually become soil-building humus. As a result, the garden seldom needs any additional fertilizer.
I regularly plead with neighbors’ commercial gardeners not to blow away the precious leaves covering the soil under camellias and other plants in our mutual sideyards. I know it must seem sloppy and unprofessional to them, like leaving dirt under the rug, but outdoors it’s the natural and tidy way. Blowing leaves from garden beds can damage and even remove valuable topsoil, to say nothing of the leaf mulch I carefully keep as a cover.
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I blow leaves and other litter from paved areas into the garden beds. For this purpose there is a blower that works perfectly, and quietly. You can walk right down the driveway under your neighbor’s bedroom window, blowing leaves and it will not wake them from a Saturday afternoon nap (well, almost).
The Weed Eater Vroom is not even called a blower but a “cordless broom.” It is a blower, though a rather weak one. It moves only about 95 cubic feet of air per minute, while the more common electric blowers move about 250 to 400. Though you must work rather slowly, the Vroom moves leaves and litter off paved areas, even out from under patio furniture where brooms don’t easily reach.
The Vroom, manufactured by Poulan/Weed Eater and available at most home supply stores, is rechargeable, so there’s no annoying cord to drag around. It is also quite light and easy to hold.
I think I’ve had mine since 1996 and though I have yet to need a new rechargeable battery, I did burn out a motor and had to have it replaced. I use it a lot.
It has its limits--don’t expect to compete with the neighborhood commercial gardeners! There are leaves it can’t budge, usually because they are positioned oddly and the blast of air can’t get under them. But some leaves are simply too heavy.
The Vroom won’t blow leaves off the lawn, but then there are perfectly good rakes such as the locally made, green and yellow Flexrake. It’s sweeping I’m not fond of--I like raking the lawn.
Of course my lawn measures only 8 by 19 feet (which leaves lots of room for flowers, fruits and vegetables), so it’s more like sweeping off an area rug than vacuuming the whole house.
The charge on the Vroom’s battery lasts just long enough to “sweep” the patio, driveway, walk, front porch and sidewalk. Then, it’s drained. It takes several hours to recharge.
My recharger is attached to the garage wall, right next to an outlet by the other garden tools, where it is quite handy. I wish the vacuum in the house were as easy to get to, and as quiet.
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I must confess there are times when a big, powerful blower/vacuum is very useful, such as after big windstorms when there are piles of leaves to clean off the walks, patio and driveway.
In December, I wrote about one of those electric leaf blowers that double as garden vacuums and leaf shredders. I liked the idea of grinding up leaves and tossing them on the compost pile, but I was surprised at how awkward and noisy the machine was.
A number of people, mostly owners of similar machines, sent mail agreeing with most of my points but didn’t think the machines were all that noisy. One manufacturer even sent me a sample of its machine, advertised as making “50% less noise” (but only in blower mode, when compared with its previous model).
Perhaps it’s impossible to design a blower or vacuum that is strong and quiet. Manufacturers use turbine-like fans that look similar to a jet’s and are probably just as difficult to quiet.
Manufacturers are certainly trying. The new “quieter” blower/vac sent to me requires that a fat muffler be placed over the turbine when it is used as a blower. The muffler must be taken off to use the machine as a vacuum, so it’s still pretty noisy in the vacuum mode.
This blower/vac worked as well as the one I bought on sale, at both blowing and gathering (and shredding). In fact, its bag and various tubes were easier to attach and detach. Otherwise, I found them quite similar.
I don’t think I really need three blowers, but I am now convinced that they have their place in the home gardener’s arsenal, next to the rake and--yes, I still have one--the broom.
In the Garden runs Thursdays. Write to Robert Smaus, Southern California Living, Los Angeles Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, CA 90053; fax to (213) 237-4712; or e-mail robert.smaus@latimes.com.
