Clearing leaves when you have back problems.

My husband bought a leaf blower with a collection bag but it was too heavy and once I’d picked up some leaves it was impossible. I got rid of it and now I rack them into a pile but I limit myself to a few minutes at a time.
If you buy one check how heavy it is.

That should be rake them up.

One of my neighbours uses something with a spike on the end. Looks a good idea to me, no bending.

I use a very wide brush it’s not too heavy and it brushes up a large amount of leaves at once.

I'm lucky I have a battery operated Ryobi lawn mower. It is on quite thick wheels so easy to push, and very light. In the Autumn I use it to mow the leaves up on the high setting - it cuts them up and some go on the beds and some in the garden bin. I mow the drive and paths as well as the lawn - I'm sure the neighbours think I'm mad 🤣 As we have loads of leaves it's an absolute gem.

light-weight plastic rake?

I've never used a leaf blower myself but the ones I see being used by the Council workers around here have a strap that goes over the shoulder. This seems to take the weight of the machine.

I’m the same - I use a wide, plastic lawn rake and rake the leaves into piles all over the garden. I have a giant sort of garden dustpan and pull the leaves into that, then drop into the garden bin.
Like Tanith I just do it little and often. We had a leaf vacuum thing years ago - very heavy and cumbersome. Mice in the garage chewed holes in the collection bag one Winter.

A friend told me recently that her son in law used her lawn mower and she was amazed at how well it worked, despite her reservations.

We just leave the leaves 🍃

I do most (all!) the raking up of leaves and a few years ago Mr T bought a leaf blower which he used once or twice. It was too heavy and awkward for me to use, a wire rake works just fine and I pace myself now, not doing too much at once so continued to use that. The leaf blower languished in the garage taking up space and when he got it out last autumn, just to do the drive way it had a big hole in the bag where the mice had made their home so it had to be thrown away, thankfully . I think they really are a waste of time as whenever I see a council chap using them all that seems to happen is the leaves are spread over a wider area.

I agree with others, leaf suckers are more trouble than their worth. I bought one in a charity shop (luckily) and I was thankful to give it away! The lawn mower on high is efficient somlongbas the lawn isn’t sodden, otherwise could you wait for a gale?

I bought one last year, amazon, gracious gardens £39.99. It is very easy to use and works well. It has a bag and a shoulder strap and I don`t find it heavy

I find the leaf blower heavy and cumbersome, so either use a light rake or my battery operated lawnmower on a high setting.

We use the lawn mower set on high. Then we bag some of it to make leaf mould. (Not all, though, because we have a lot of trees on our boundary) They rot down faster and the mower is less work than brushing or raking them up.

Thanks for this teabagwoman. It’s stopped me buying a leaf blower. I’ll replace the plastic leaf fork picker upper that’s broken

Thank you all for your advice. I think the way forward is a lightweight lawn rake, a dustpan with a long handle and a timer so I only do a little at a time. Hopefully that’s another problem solved.

We use a leaf blower to blow the leaves out of the borders then run over the piles with the lawnmower and mulch them.

I also use the lawnmower. It chops up the leaves so they take up less space. We have 4 oak tree and a beech, so have mountains of leaves. It's much easier.