What is the best way to rake leaves?

Posted on: Oct 13, 2021Jordyn Rowntree

Raking leaves is an important lawn maintenance practice that is often done without much care. This couldn’t be more wrong. The best way to rake leaves involves a measure of diligence and care that’s too regularly disregarded. It is that diligence and care, after all, that clears a lawn without damaging it. So, here is a guide to the best way to rake leaves.

The first thing to do is choose the right rake.

The best way to rake leaves can’t involve raking with the wrong tool. When dealing with leaves you want to select a lawn or leaf rake, making sure its head has a good spread of tines that are angled so that they won’t damage your lawn. This is perhaps the most important thing to do when raking leaves, as with the wrong rake, no matter how careful or diligent you are, there’s a chance you won’t be able to get the job gone or, worse yet, do your lawn harm.

On top of having the right rake, you also might need other gear to ensure that the raking process goes smoothly.

At the top of that list is gloves, as the handling of a rake for an extended period of time can be rough on the hands. Besides gloves, some kind of mask for the dust might also be a worthwhile investment, especially if you suffer from allergies.

Besides that, it’s worth being mindful of any pre-existing injuries or aches and pains you have. This could mean simply stretching and/or warming up before raking or something more, like using a back brace.

In terms of the raking itself, there are a few pieces of advice worth adhering to.

The first is raking with the wind. Not only does this make the raking easier, as the leaves will be blowing the directing you’re raking them, but it also reduces the chances of dust being blown your way.

A second tip that you should be following is to rake with a game plan in terms of how you want to cover the area you’re going to rake and, once you’ve decided on how, then raking in rows, so that the area raked is as straightforward and easy to track as possible. If your lawn isn’t large then there’s probably no game plan necessary, just rake in rows. However, if it’s on the larger end, then you might want to break it down into smaller sections, dealing with each one at a time.

One final thing to keep in mind when thinking about the best ways to rake leaves is to have sufficient collection apparatus. This can mean you laying out a tarp and raking the leaves onto it before tying it off or simply using bags.