Raking has always been an inevitable part of gardening for the American household. If you look closely you’ll find that there are hundreds of rakes available in the market. And you might be curious to know about all of the different types of rakes for lawns and their uses.
The most commonly used lawn rakes are – Garden rakes, Leaf rakes, Lawn rakes, Shrub rakes, Thatch rakes, Landscaping rakes, Power rakes, and so on.
To keep your garden blooming and beautiful all year round, you should have a clear idea about the various lawn rakes, their uses, alternatives, and which takes you need on a minimum basis for your lawn. And I will cover all that here in this article. So, keep on reading.
15 Different Types Of Lawn Rakes And Their Uses
A gardener must know about the ins and outs of his tools by heart. The most common and available gardening tool is the rake. Over the years, several rakes have evolved out of the basic structure of the standard garden rake.
Furthermore, these new rakes have now become favorites to all lawn owners. Now, let us take a closer look at each type of rake.
Garden Rakes
When you picture a rake in your mind, the first thing you would imagine is a garden rake. Similar to bow rakes, they consist of a long handle with a metallic rake-head at right angles to the end. In addition to these, there are short, rigid, widely spaced times in the fixed head.
Uses: Garden rakes have broad and stout bases. So they are best for forceful lawn works. These heavy-duty rakes are used to loosen hard soil, break up dried mulch, level the ground, etc.
Lawn Rakes
They look similar to the leaf rakes. However, they are completely different tools. The differences lie in the tines. The tines are made of metal. In lawn rakes, the times are metallic, long, closely spaced, and fan out at the end.
Uses: Lawn rakes work like leaf rakes on uneven surfaces. The head of lawn rakes is easy to bend. So they can be used on lumpy grounds and potholes.
Shrub Rakes
Just as the name says, shrub rakes are used in gardens of shrubs. They also look like leaf rakes. But they have fewer times in their head.
Uses: The shrub rakes come in handy when you want to rake out smaller and tighter spaces. If you own a lawn with varieties of shrubs, this is your first pick. Besides, they also help to reach underneath the flower beds and difficult corners of the lawn.
Leaf Rakes
These are the most valuable and most ancient tools in your lawn care. It has a long handle that is attached to a closed set of long-tines groups, arranged in a triangular shape. The ends are toothed, so it enables them to rake out heaves of leaves from every corner of your lawn.
Uses: The bamboo leaf rakes are quite vulnerable to damage but serve a good deal in raking dry leaves. Besides, the best leaf rakes are the metallic and the wooden ones. They can rake up the wet and muddy leaves, leaving you with the perfect green lawn!
Thatch Rakes
Yes, you have guessed it right. Thatch rakes are exclusively designed for raking up thatches. For this reason, the times in these rakes are very spiky, needle-like, and pointed.
Uses: If you have built of straws, hays, thick leaves in your lawn you can easily scrape them out using a thatch rake. You can buy yours from Amazon online today!
Landscaping Rakes
These are the upgraded versions of garden rakes. The only difference is that the heads of these rakes are broader so they can accommodate more tines.
Uses: Having a broader head, they are perfect for raking a big lawn in a short period. The broader head also helps to enhance the precision of your work. Eventually, your landscape looks uniformly shaped from all sides.
Berry Rakes
If you own berry trees on your lawn, this is your go-to equipment for plucking berries. They are small and have a container or box at the end which serves as the berry collector.
Uses: In short, plucking berries manually from a thousand trees at a time can be very exhausting. This berry rake is the answer to your prayers! Just swish your berry rake and enjoy hundreds of berries whenever you want.
Power Rakes
These are engine-driven rakes. They might be a bit more expensive than the regular ones. But they are so convenient to use and hence gaining popularity! The head has metallic tines and moves in circles to do the job.
Uses: Just drive the engine and the power will do the rest. Just like a lawnmower, it rakes up on its own. The motor is capable of raking up both dried and wet leaves, thatches, pieces of branches, etc. It’s more like a vacuum cleaner for your lawn!
Hand Rakes
It’s a small, easily portable, handy tool. If you have plants in pots, tubs, or buckets, a hand rake is the best choice! Moreover, it looks like a smaller version of a shrub rake. It is most preferred by homestead gardeners.
Uses: It is as easy as using a spade. For its size, it is a sweetheart to all cultivators. Therefore, it works well in loosening soil, breaking lumps, raking out weeds and dirt around the small trees. Although, you may have to get down on all fours to do the job!
Gravel Rakes
The ordinary garden rakes are not capable enough to remove the hard stones, pebbles, gravel from your lawn. This is where gravel rakes, also called Tarmac rakes, come into use. They are stronger and bigger. They have big metallic tines designed for heavy-duty gravel works.
Uses: The metals used in these rakes are more durable and have increased tensile strength. Consequently, they can help in spreading out the harder inorganic mulches made of gravel, glasses, or marbles. Although, the sole purpose is to rake up gravels.
Leaf-scooping Rakes
They look like half a scoop and have a curved plastic container at the end to collect your leaves. The ends have jaws that can open and close when they grab leaves.
Uses: This is the best alternative for a leaf rake, especially for older people. They can easily rake their lawns in their leisure time without bending over or collecting leaves manually. Instead, they can use a leaf scooping rake!
Snow Rakes
As you can guess from the name, the snow rakes remove snowflakes from your lawn. They have broad plastic bases attached to long handles. The long handle enables them to be used as roof rakes too.
Uses: Used for scooping up the snow builds on your lawn after a heavy snowfall. They are multipurpose and can be used for removing the leaves settling in the corners of your roof too.
Hay Rakes
The hay rakes are the doppelgangers of landscaping rakes, with a twist. They are lighter and thinner. They are designed only for collecting hays.
Uses: They are perfect for use on small farms. You can spread the hay over or scrape it out using a hay rake.
Pond Rakes
Pond rakes are also called Lake Rakes. If you have a pond by the side of your lawn, you need this. They have long handles. They are designed for use in water.
Uses: Used to clean up the growth of aquatic weeds and algae, the green mossy layer on ponds.
Kids’ Rakes
Children love to imitate what they see! The kids’ rake came into view to address the keen interest of our kids in gardening. In other words, these are the smaller versions of garden rakes or leaf rakes.
Uses: You can get these customized as per the height of your child. The bigger ones are tough to handle for our tiny fellas. So they can have fun on the lawn with these lovely rakes!
Which Lawn Rake Do You Really Need?
If you are an average small-scale gardener, you can work with a few basic rakes like the garden rake and leaf rake. These are the most basic ones to keep your lawn clean. But, you should determine what you need and the ones that meet your needs.
Also, as a beginner, you only want to buy the most essential tools. In this regard, the most useful rakes are the Garden Rakes and the Leaf Rakes. Or if you want to have it all in one, just go for a Power Rake! Although, they don’t last long and often require servicing.
Lawn owners often face this issue as to which rake to buy for their lawns. Because most of them don’t know about the different types of rakes for lawns available out there and their uses, it can be overwhelming to pick one due to their different shapes and sizes.
I hope this article helped you to understand a great deal about different rakes for gardening. Now you can buy the rake you want and use it accordingly! Thank you for reading the entire article with patience. Happy gardening!
