I would suggest a Garden Vac/Blower.

I reckon larger slate chippings would be too heavy to be "sucked up " by the
vacuum, but smaller pieces of slate maybe, and could damage the tool, and as
Franz says you will spend more time emptying the bag than collecting the
leaves. The better option would be to blow the dropped leaves to one corner
of the garden then collect them up manually. Through the summer months I
usually blow all the garden debris to one location then switch to vacuum to
collect the debris in the bag. You'll find the quantity of leaves in the
autumn a little too much for most garden vacs to cope with ( especially if
the leaves are wet ).


Jeff

"K" wrote in message
...
We've just laid some slate chippings in our front garden and I am
contemplating getting a vac when the leaves fall. Will it suck up the
chippings? They are of different sizes but larger than granite type
chippings. If a vac would cope, can anyone suggest a good one for a small
garden.

K