Make Fall Cleanup Easier with These Essential Gardening Tools
We asked regular contributor Amy Galloway Medley and several Fine Gardening staff members to review the fall cleanup tools that make their workload a little lighter. These tools can help you get the job done faster and easier, so you have more time to enjoy those beautiful fall days.
This heavy-duty cart can haul bulky materials with ease
Tested by Amy Galloway Medley
The A.M. Leonard Flatbed 2-Wheel Nursery Cart is adding years back to my life. As a full-time professional gardener, I haul a lot of heavy things for work and sometimes for long distances. The low and flat cart bed allows you to slide hefty objects onto it rather than lifting them. The weight is balanced between the two large wheels, lightening the load of even the heaviest items. It has an 850-pound capacity, so you can move just about anything a gardener can imagine without machinery.
I’ve transported large boulders, 32-gallon buckets full of soil and compost, and giant planted terra-cotta pots, and it’s perfect for bringing big tropicals and other tender plants inside for winter. The diamond-shaped holes in the flatbed reduce the weight of the cart without compromising strength, while also preventing the retention of excess water or soil. If you’re handy with an angle grinder, removing the front lip makes it even easier to slide things on.
A.M. Leonard Flatbed 2-Wheel Nursery Cart
Clear fall debris from tight spaces with a multipurpose hay fork
Tested by Carol Collins
Leaving the leaves is fine in some garden locations, but there are other areas that are best kept clear of autumn debris. I’ve found that a high-quality hay or manure fork is just the right tool for gathering and removing piles of leaves that collect against walls, in corners, and in the lower branches of small evergreens. It’s surprising how many leaves you can pick up at once on the sharp tines, then clear with a single backward swipe onto a tarp or into a wheelbarrow.
My treasured hay fork (above) was a yard sale find, but A.M. Leonard makes a very similar model, the Forged Steel 5-Tine Manure Fork, with a 54-inch hardwood handle and sharp, drop-forged steel tines. In addition to being stellar for fall cleanup, this tool is my go-to mulch spreader each spring.
Forged Steel 5-Tine Manure Fork
Read More: Ergonomic Garden Tools to Help You Get More Done
Get a lot done quickly with this super-handy leaf blower
Tested by Christine DeLorenzo
For clearing areas of my yard from leaves, I love the Milwaukee 3044–20 M18 Brushless Handheld Leaf Blower. My house is surrounded by trees, so the deck, driveway, and pathways get completely covered in debris during fall. I’ll admit that I used to side-eye my neighbors for using their noisy leaf blowers, especially on a peaceful Sunday afternoon. But this tool is battery-powered, which means it’s quieter than the gas-powered blowers I hear around the neighborhood, and the battery life is excellent. It’s easy to tote around, even up and down a ladder, due to the lightweight and compact design. Plus, the battery is interchangeable with other Milwaukee products, such as my chainsaw and string trimmer.
I’m typically a bit of a Luddite when it comes to gadgets and used to be committed to the silence of a rake or broom, but this tool is a game changer, and there are some tasks that just go much faster with a little power. The price is reasonable, too, especially for a reliable name brand like Milwaukee. It’s even a lovely shade of red, making it visible in my sometimes-crowded garage.
Milwaukee 3044–20 M18 Brushless Handheld Leaf Blower
Turn to this wheelbarrow for a hassle-free option that won’t let you down
Tested by Christine Alexander
After my old wheelbarrow’s tires went flat for the second time in as many years, I decided I was done changing and putting air into them. I searched for a new wheelbarrow with the following qualities: flat-free tires, two wheels, and a straight edge that would let me rest it sideways to load in mulch or soil without having to lift the shovel to waist height. The Easy Haul Wheelbarrow by Simplay3 was the winner. It’s not huge, but honestly, I don’t need it to be that big; I just need it to be easy to use.
That’s not to say it can’t heft an impressive amount of weight. Though its capacity tops out at 4 cubic feet, it can still haul 200 pounds, which is more than I’d need to move at a time anyway. I also like that it has a shallow tray area to toss garden gloves, a phone, or a water bottle. If you need a low-maintenance and simple-to-use wheelbarrow that can still get the job done, this is a great pick.
Easy Haul Wheelbarrow by Simplay3
Read More: Essential Garden Gear to Protect Yourself from Sun and Heat
Zip through your veggie garden chores with a harvest sickle that stays sharp
Tested by Carol Collins
You will find a thousand uses for this lightweight, ergonomic hand knife, which is especially well-suited for veggie harvesting and end-of-season cleanup. The curved, stainless-steel blade of the Zenport K208P Harvest Sickle has deep, sharp serrations that cut efficiently through stems and roots of all kinds, even woody or fibrous ones.
The textured plastic handle is easy to grip with gloves on, and its bright orange color makes the tool stand out if it is dropped somewhere in the yard or left behind in a garden bed. You will always want to wear cut-resistant gloves when handling this blade, which will remain devastatingly sharp for several seasons no matter what you throw at it.
Zenport K208P Harvest Sickle
Treat yourself to a three-in-one lightweight rake
Tested by Amy Galloway Medley
The Zenport ZL201 Adjustable Steel Rake is easily convertible on the go. Just open the clasp, and the head can go from 8 inches to 23 inches wide or stop at any point along the way. When retracted, it’s stiff and powerful, enabling you to create clean lines along a border or get in between existing plants. Halfway extended, it has various uses and is nice and sturdy. Extended all the way open, it works very well as a wide leaf rake with gentler pressure. The tines are thin enough to lightly comb out grasses and small sedges (Carex spp. and cvs., Zones 3–9) without too much disturbance. Every winter, I remove thatch from my Lindheimer’s muhly grass (Muhlenbergia lindheimeri, Zones 6–9b) by flipping the rake upside down and gently teasing out the previous season’s dead foliage.
This extremely versatile tool keeps me from having to lug multiple rakes around, and it only weighs three pounds. Just be sure to avoid retracting the head all the way, as the tines seem to get stuck and can bend when attempting to open the rake back up.
Zenport ZL201 Adjustable Steel Rake
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Felco Pruning Shears (F 9) – High Performance Swiss Made One-Hand Left-Handed Garden Pruners
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The premium pruning clippers are constructed of forged aluminum handles and hardened steel blades. Rotating handle and ergonomic shock absorbers for increased comfort. This high-performance pruner features a wire cutter for small wires and a sap groove to minimize the blade sticking. Hardened steel blade and screw-mounted anvil blade ensure reliably clean, precise cuts. 8.3-inch (210mm) length, 0.98-inch (25mm) cutter diameter, and has a 0.54 lb (245 gram) weight. Ideal tool for left-handed pruners. Features a cushion stop, sap-groove, wire-cutting notch, and fine blade adjustment.
Kezzled Kevlar Sleeves
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These EN-388 certified Kevlar arm sleeves provide reliable cut, tear, and abrasion protection while remaining lightweight and comfortable to wear. With a seamless stretch design, thumb slots, and finger openings, they stay in place during tough tasks and are easy to clean for repeated use.
