Ah, the beautiful colors of fall foliage. It's a wonderful time of year. There is a cool crispness in the air, a welcome change after the heat and humidity of the summer. In fact, fall is some people's favorite time of the year - unless, of course, they are the ones who have to rake all the leaves after they fall to the ground.



Collecting leaves and bagging them can be a tedious, hard, time consuming project. If you have very many trees in your yard, or a very large yard to rake, you might want to think about investing in a lawn vacuum. This piece of equipment can decrease your amount of yard work, and make a hard job much easier.

There are three different kinds of leaf vacuums. These vacuums are available in a handheld model, a push model and a riding vacuum. The model you decide to purchase will depend on how large of a job you have.

For small jobs and tight spaces, the hand held model is ideal. If you have a larger area, a walk behind push type vacuum works well. For large yards with lots of leaves, you might think about investing in a riding leaf vacuum.

Handheld models are great for small jobs. These machines usually often double as both a blower and vacuum. The vacuum feature usually attaches to a bag that collects the leaves. However, these hand held models don't have a large motor, and don't offer a lot of suction.

They work well only after leaves are freshly fallen, and not so good after they have gotten wet and packed down. Along cleaning small areas, these hand held vacuums can also be used to clean patios, pool decks or driveways.

A walk behind push vacuum works much like a push mower. As it cleans the leaves from your yard, this vacuum will usually mulch or shred the leaves and then send them to an onboard bag which can be dumped at your curb, or easily bagged.

Many gardeners like these types of vacuums because the collected, shredded leaves can be used to make mulch. However, these push vacuums don't maneuver easily into small spaces so you may wind up raking these anyway.

If you have a large woodsy yard, you might want to consider a riding leaf vacuum. These vacuums look much like a riding mower except they have a vacuum instead of a cutting blade. These riding vacuums are better than push ones because they can clean a larger path and also have stronger vacuum motors than push vacuums.

They also require less effort on your part since all you have to do is steer the vacuum. The collection bags on these riding vacuums also holds a much larger volume of leaves than those on the push variety and don't have to be emptied as often. This means you spend more time cleaning your yard and less time emptying the collection bag.

So if you are facing a big raking job, you might want to think about a leaf vacuum. With three models available, you are sure to find a vacuum that is perfect for your needs.