October gardening tips, from leaf blowers to pocket-sized tools

Blow-by-blow account

For readers with trees in their garden, the annual ritual of gathering dead leaves on a regular basis is an unavoidable hassle if you want to keep your lawn or terrace tidy throughout autumn and winter.

To make life easier, there are many brands and types of leaf blowers (souffleurs) and vacuums (aspirateurs) available in local garden centres and online – at all price points.

If you have a lot of leaves, you need a blower capable of moving a large volume of air, and to get rid of wet, sticky leaves, you’ll need a tool that produces a high-speed airflow. Model pictured: cordless Worx WG585E 40V LeafJet – capable of blowing 1,053 cubic metres per hour of air at a speed of 266 km/h. Priced at €170.08, from Leroy Merlin.

Christmas is coming

If you are keen to make a start on Christmas shopping for the gardener in your life – or perhaps to treat yourself – this lovely set of three pocket-sized tools in spring colours from Opinel is a great gift option.

The wooden case contains a garden knife, a No. 08 pruning knife and a No. 12 folding saw – to cover all those weeding, pruning, harvesting and cutting needs.

The stainless steel used in Opinel blades is a grade that has been optimised to ensure both high corrosion resistance and superior mechanical performance.

Price, €57.

In the potager

There is plenty of sowing to be done in the vegetable patch this month: white and purple garlic, red winter onions, rhubarb, asparagus and artichokes (in regions with mild winters), carrots (under cover), spinach, rocket and lamb’s lettuce.