Vacuum Leaves in Your Backyard?

It’s May already, can you believe it?  It’s time to prepare your backyard for Summer!  Since it’s warm here in Southern California, we have been getting the whole family outside cleaning up the backyard.  The kids have been working on the weeds, we’ve been working on getting the layer of dust off the patio and tables, the next step is to pick up those leftover leaves that have accumulated near our trampoline.

We have a couple of protected California Oak trees right behind our fence in our backyard.  They are beautiful and we love to look at them.  Unfortunately, these evergreen trees frequently drop these prickly little leaves all over our backyard and trampoline.  Being native Californians, our kids frequently run out to the trampoline barefooted, and it’s not too long before one shrieks from stepping on one of these prickly nuisances.

The leaves are small, so raking them won’t work.  Perhaps you have these leaves…or even bigger leaves all over your yard as well.  Bending over to pick up leaves is not nearly as fun as jumping in them.  Nonetheless, at some point, they need to go away.  Blowing them with a blower doesn’t work in our yard, it just makes it messier and our fence keeps them well contained…in the yard.

My husband and I visited Walmart one night to see what our options were.  I was excited to find a Black & Decker 12 amp Blower/Vac/Mulcher.  I love that it’s a 3-in-1 tool.  We can get rid of our blower that collects dust and use this multi-tool for our clean up needs.  Now we are ready to vacuum leaves!

My husband was so excited to try out the Black & Decker Blower/Vac/Mulcher.  Can it really vacuum up small leaves, big leaves, and debris? He said he spends 1/2 hour watering off our back patio, getting rid of dirt, debris, and leaves.  He was anxious to see if this outdoor appliance would minimize his work.

We were both impressed at the force this blower has.  He was able to blow leaves over 8 feet away.  At 230 mph, those leaves blew away fast and furious.

The blower was also great for our sandpit.  The kids love to play in the sandpit and inevitably, sand pours over into our fake grass.  It would just stay there before, but now, the sand is blown back in.

My son picked a number of weeds and left piles of them all over the yard.  We knew the Blower/Vac/Mulcher could vacuum leaves, but could it vacuum and mulch tall weeds?  Yup!

Features:

• Handy 3-in-1 device to help you blow, mulch yard waste, and vacuum leaves up
• Powerful 12 amp motor
• Has a 230 mph blower – no problem blowing leaves and debris a distance away
• Comes with a bag with shoulder strap to vacuum leaves and debris
• Quick conversion to easily convert from blower to vacuum (no extra tools needed)
• Its anti-clog vortex impeller helps to prevent clogs when mulching
• Comes with a built-in cord retainer

Pros:

• Since it’s a 3-in-1, it takes up less storage than having a blower, vacuum, and mulcher separately
• Price is reasonable
• Comes with a full 2-year warranty
• Can grind up to 10 bags of mulch down to one!
• Emptying the bag is a breeze

Cons:

• has a cord, a cordless vac would be easier (but probably not as powerful)
• it’s noisy

Before

After

Vacuum leaves and debris on steps, mats, and walkways.

Everyone knows what a blower can do.  Here are some things a vac/mulcher can sweep up:

• leaves
• twigs
• small pine cones
• grass clippings
• small trash
• loose dirt
• loose sand
• picked weeds
• bird nest debris
• spider webs/eggs
• rose petals
• completely cool small used fireworks
• confetti
• spilled chips/breadcrumbs/etc.

Here’s how finely the mulcher chopped up the big weeds we vacuumed up!

The Black & Decker High Performance Blower/Vac/Mulcher BV3600 is available at your local Walmart store or Walmart.com for $ 59.97 with free shipping.

A Mom’s Perspective

There’s something about technology that can make chores a little more fun.  At first we used it to vacuum the leaves.  It worked great, but we found it is more efficient to blow the leaves together in a pile, then use the vac to mulch and sweep them up.  We used the blower/vac/mulcher for a 1/2 hour and swept up a lot of leaves, weeds, and debris, yet, it was a small amount in the mulching bag to empty.

I found another great use for the vac too.  Our patio cushions, which we brought out of storage a month ago, had gotten quite dusty.  I found I could vacuum away the dust using the vac!  Now I can feel more comfortable when guests sit down on these cushions…that they won’t get up and have a dust smear across their back!

The kids used to hate picking up the weed piles they collected around the yard.  They are always so prickly and never fit into the trash cans or trash bags well.  Now, they can sweep them up with the new vac, that automatically mulches them and sends them to the bag on their shoulder.

If you’re looking for a “little” more help in the backyard, the Black & Decker High Performance Blower/Vac/Mulcher might be just what you need to excite your children in helping you get your yard ready for Summer.