There are two facts universally acknowledged about autumn. 1. Everyone you know will suddenly start saying, “I can’t believe summer’s over already”. (Seriously, can you believe it?) 2. A tidal wave of autumn hues will descend on your lawn in the form of soon to be rotten leaves. Garden vac to the rescue!

Don’t despair, prepare. We’ve got some tips to help your ready your plan of action with your garden vac in hand.

When using your garden vac do…

1. Suck up leaves as soon after they fall as possible. Garden vacs don’t cope as well with large volumes of heavy damp leaves.
2. Use other tools to help you like a rake. Rakes are also good to remove dried grass that can build up on the soil of your lawn and make it less healthy.
3. Use the blow function as well as the suck function if there is one. One tried and tested simple leaf removal method – blow the leaves into a pile on a tarp and then scoop them up.
4. Make sure leaves aren’t blocking the nozzle as the vac needs decent airflow into it to work
5. Empty the debris bag often. Similar to your lawn mower, your garden vac won’t work well when the bag is full, plus your vac will get very heavy. Good if you’re looking for an intensive bicep workout, but otherwise not so much!
6. Use a back and forth sweeping motion to blow or suck up leaves.
7. Blow leaves off gravel or bark surfaces and onto grass or patio surfaces before sucking them up. If you don’t you might not have much gravel/bark left afterwards!
8. Make the most of those leaves. Mulch them down for compost to mix in with your soil after you gather them.
9. Keep yourself safe! Tie your hair back if you have long hair and consider wearing protective glasses if there are lots of small bits of debris flying around.

When using your garden vac don’t…

10. Don’t put your vac away when autumn’s over. Whilst folks often think removing leaves is a garden vac’s core purpose, you can also use yours to clear snow in winter or remove grass cuttings from your lawn and patio in summer.
11. Don’t suck up stones or large branches. As you can no doubt imagine, this isn’t good for the vac.
12. Don’t use your garden vac on a windy day as you’ll just find yourself chasing your tail! Wait until the weather’s settled down a little instead.
13. Don’t rest the nozzle of your garden vac against the ground. It’s bad for the appliance and will only get it dirty.
14. Don’t expect to pick up every single leaf. It’s pretty much a thankless task because as soon as there’s a gust of wind more leaves will fall. Put that OCD aside!

With these gems of wisdom, you won’t be-leaf how good your lawn looks (groan).

Another appliance you might find yourself using more this season is your pressure washer. For all those planning to give their cars a once over, we’ve got a few more dos and don’ts.