We like to have our gardens tidy. We like to have our roads and sidewalks clean and safe!
So we hire landscaping companies, and they address this “problem” by using leaf blowers to clean up leaves and debris to complete their property visits. Sometimes the debris is blown into a pile to be picked up and carried away, usually in plastic bags.
But is this good landscaping practice?
Much of the time dust, leaves, and random trash is simply blown into the street where it becomes someone else’s problem. We’ve all witnessed crews using blowers on streets, sidewalks, and gardens in breezy to windy conditions; the grit, leaves, etc. swirl around and re-settle on the same property, and on properties and surfaces nearby.
Leaf blowers still in common use are the backpack style, 2-cycle gas engine machines. Like lawnmowers and hedge trimmers, they use fossil fuel products extremely inefficiently. They produce carbon
monoxide and other hydrocarbons at a much higher rate than gas-powered automobiles. These pollutants harm both the users and the environment and contribute to climate change. The airborne dust and debris can contain any number of other unpleasant and toxic substances including mold, pollens, and animal feces; the list goes on.
As well as polluting the air, soil, and planet these gas-powered blowers are loud enough to be obnoxious, stressful, and potentially damaging, certainly to the user but also to others nearby, and the sound carries across wide distances. I don’t know anyone who enjoys the sound of a blower interrupting a beautiful autumn day.
Blowers are generally in heaviest use at commercial establishments and governmental properties. While establishments with large parking lots and broad entrances want to present a certain look of pleasant, uncluttered surfaces, perhaps they, and we homeowners, can find less impactful ways to accomplish this.
Where possible we could direct our landscaping crews to leave some of the debris on the ground. Leaf litter and undisturbed soil are much better for the life we need to protect in our environment, from the soil microbes and fungi to the indispensable insects.
For surfaces that need to be cleared, we could use electric blowers, which are quieter, create far less pollution, and require less maintenance. Better yet, we could pick up trash by hand and we could choose to use rakes and brooms, concentrating on the most important areas. And we should practice these activities on calm days, when the wind will not make the labor ineffective. Here at the Garden, we leave most leaf litter and other plant debris on the ground to nurture the soil through winter and early spring. We do sometimes use an electric blower to remove debris which might
make paths and patios less safe, but more often we are happy to sweep and rake those areas.
Fortunately, cities around the US are beginning to take notice. Seattle, Pasadena, Miami Beach, Washington DC, and others have begun instituting various bans on the sale and/or use of gas-powered blowers. These places recognize the many harms caused by these machines.
Wouldn’t it be lovely if all our neighborhoods and public spaces were a little more free of noise and pollution, and protected by a few more leaves on the ground in autumn?
Those fallen leaves are part of the beauty of the season.
