Lately I've been thinking of easy ways to harvest grass clippings and compost around the house to feed our garden beds. Grass clippings, wood chips, livestock manure, and leaves all make great compost and food for your plants. They break down slowly and add vitamins and minerals to your plants naturally instead of mixing up harsh chemicals.
One way we have been doing this is by raking leaves and spreading mulch donated from the local tree service. I collect chicken manure and also cut down tall weeds to add to a large compost pile that I keep tarped to accelerate the process. Another way has been to harvest compost is bagging your lawn clippings to add to this pile.
We have a bagger on our small mower that works great, but it doesn't hold very much and you have to stop quite frequently to dump it. I was thinking about taking this same approach with the riding mower. They make a bagger that attaches to riding mowers but it is very expensive for being all plastic. I decided to do some research before making the decision.
That's when I came across the lawn sweeper. Instead of sucking the grass up through a tube attached to the deck of the mower, it is simply towed behind the mower. The lawn sweeper has a wide metal body that houses a large brush device. You set the brush to the appropriate height, and when towed it spins the brush throwing lawn debris up into a large 22 bushel hopper. Yes 22 bushels, as opposed to only 6 in the bagger which also costs more. Also, you don't have to get off the mower to dump it out. A rope attaches from the mower to the sweeper allowing you to pull and dump your yard debris wherever you'd like even while moving!
Putting the lawn sweeper together was not difficult. I would recommend a good socket or wrench set to make things easy. Having someone to help will also make things easier. It is mostly held together with 7/16" and 1/2" bolts, nuts, and cotter pins. Once you get started things will come together fairly easily. The hopper was the easiest part to set up, and can be done inside. After you've ran the sweeper for the first time, recheck all your nuts and bolts for tightness.
They recommend setting the brush height to halfway between the top of the grass and the ground, so you may need to mow a bit to see where to adjust the brushes to. The height can be adjusted by loosening the right wheel and then adjusting the lever. It is set too low if the wheels drag, and set too high if the hopper doesn't pick up anything.
Also keep in mind most mowers discharge to the side so you may not pick up a lot while the blades are spinning. When you've finished mowing a section, turn the blades off and go back over any clumps of grass that may have been left behind. The sweeper should pick it up. If not, lower the brushes until they do.
Wet grass will load the sweeper and hopper down quickly. Keep this in mind and dump your clippings frequently. If the hopper becomes overloaded it can be difficult to dump. It can also create a hazard if you are mowing hilly areas. The sweeper does not like to be towed along on the side of a hill, it will try to drag you down with it. If mowing hilly areas is necessary, always try to go straight down any declines and not at an angle.
When this sweeper will really shine is during the fall when leaves, acorns, and other debris will be falling. The large hopper will allow me to really fill it up with the dead dry leaves. You can replace hours of raking with a few passes of your riding mower and sweeper. I may even "help" my neighbors out with their leaf problems this year! The leaves really are excellent mulch and every one counts.
I would say I am very pleased with the product so far. The construction and quality seems to be good, with most parts crafted and assembled in the United States. I was able to dump a few small loads of grass with the sweeper, and it left my yard looking very nice and clean. I'm already looking out at my yard waiting for the grass to grow.
