Brooklyn1 Gravesend1 writes:

wrote:
coykiesaol writes:

I have been scraping up all the leaves in the garden (very large garden,
unbelievable amount of leaves!!)

"very large garden" is meaningless... to some an 1/8 acre is very
large, to others a full acre is very large, to some 20 acres is small.

Was wondering if having dumped a load
of them on the veg patch for mixing in with horse manure when they are
rotted down whether this will be beneficial or detrimental to the health
(growth) of veggies next year??

Yes.

So long as the leaves are well composted, otherwise mixing in
uncomposted leaves will harbor/encourage insects/disease.

Also, does anyone have a leaf blower and can they recommend them or not.
Especially when the leaves are wet on grass??

Leaf blowers come in 3 main categories:

Electric - Near useless, only for small amounts of leaves. Won't move
wet leaves.

Backpack 2 cycle gas - This is what I have. Good for up to an acre.
Wet doesn't matter.

Walk behind gas - What pros use, as big as a lawnmower clears large
amounts of leaves in a hurry. You may still need a backpack blower
for certain areas.

For large areas the pros use a lawn vac/mulcher (not a blower), often

Hmm, I just read somewhere that "large areas" is meaningless.

an attachment for garden tractors/riding mowers... but there are also
walk behind/push types. It's actually silly to blow large expanses of
leaves, much smarter to suck them up and grind them all in one fell
swoop... otherwise one will be blowing the same leaves backwards and
forwards all day.

About 80 percent of my neighbors have lawn services to deal with the
leaves. None of them use tractors for the leaves. They have tractors,
they just don't use them for leaves.

So for a homeowner with a lot of leaves, go with a backpack gas powered
blower.

The backpack types are overkill for the homeowner, those are used by
professional landscapers who service several properties eachy day who
will be blowing leaves/grass clippings all day every day... homeowners
blow leaves once/twice a year, get the smallest unit that will do the
job.

I'm a home owner.
I blow leaves 5 or 6 weekends a year. Usually about 8 hours each
weekend. I'm on just under an acre. I'm surrounded by really big tulip
poplars.

There are hand held blowers one can carry and/or support with a
shoulder strap... these are very portable and work exceptionally well
for homeowner tasks... I have this one, very powerful, will blow wet
leaves easily, I've never encounterd a situation that required more
than half throttle:
http://www.echo-usa.com/product.asp?...ry=POWERBLOWER

Half the max air speed of my unit, 2/3 the price.
This is somewhere between electric and backpack.
I can see how this would be okay for some home owners.

Whenever using a leaf blower it's very important for the operator and
everyone nearby to wear a mask/respirator.

I never wear a mask, I always wear ear protection.