Garden Force’s Leaf Chief clears away leaves effortlessly

If you’re feeling suddenly overwhelmed by masses of dead leaves in your garden (I know I am), you’ll want to get your hands on a machine that makes light work of clearing them.

Well, both Garden Force’s Leaf Chief from High Street TV and the Gardena Leaf and Grass Collector from Amazon do just that – they’re push grass and leaf collectors with huge collection bins, and they’ve got stellar reviews.

If you’re looking for an effortless alternative to a leaf blower, the Leaf Chief is one to watch. Here’s why…

The Leaf Chief and Garden’s Leaf and Grass Collector sweep up leaves, grass clippings and other garden debris using inner brushes. You don’t need to plug them in – they’re manual machines that you simply push over a range of outdoor surfaces, from lawns to patios, paths and driveways.

The fact that they’re manual collectors is a huge bonus for me – it saves splurging on fuel or electricity fees in the future (that’s a perk of manual lawn mowers, too), making the £99.99-£125 upfront cost worth it. It also means both models are really quiet, so you don’t need to worry about rousing the neighbours with a noisy leaf blower or leaf vacuum.

The long handle eliminates the need to bend down and collect every pile of leaves – instead, they’re all bundled effortlessly into the huge detachable storage collection bag.

Effortless is certainly the buzzword: according to Garden Force, ‘garden maintenance has never been easier’ with the Leaf Chief, and judging from the reviews, it certainly lives up to the claim.

‘The machine itself is very light and easy to use,’ says one reviewer. Another, who lives on a road with large trees, claims, ‘It is the best I have ever tried.’

It isn’t just larger leaves that benefit from the Leaf Chief, though – according to one reviewer, it’s the perfect solution for pine needles, too.

‘[I was] originally sceptical about purchasing this as we have a garden full of pine trees,’ they said. ‘I needn’t have worried – [it] picked up the pine needles with ease in a fraction of the time it used to take.’

You can even customise the raking height by twisting the control dial on the front of the collector, ensuring the best possible sweep for the surface and debris size you’re dealing with.

The only pain point is that the Leaf Chief isn’t suitable for sweeping wet leaves, with one reviewer claiming it ‘works better when leaves are dry’, and another mentioning that ‘wet grass with branches causes it to keep stopping’. A few reviewers say it works better on flat, even surfaces, too.

Despite that, I was impressed by the number of reviews celebrating how well it works. It even comes with a wall-mountable storage bracket, a brilliant garden storage idea for a shed.

Gardena’s Leaf and Grass Collector receives just as much praise as the Leaf Chief, with reviewers saying it’s ‘robust, handy and does its job well’.

Of course, you don’t need to clear every leaf from your garden – there are plenty of wildlife benefits to be had from a few piles here and there – but if you, like many of us this month, are finding that sweeping leaves is consistently topping your October garden jobs list, this collector is definitely worth the investment.

Alternative leaf collectors

These leaf collectors are worth a look at, too…

I think the Leaf Chief and the Gardena Leaf and Grass Collector are real game-changers for tackling fallen leaves in the garden. I can’t wait to try them out!