Rakes have been essential gardening tools since ancient times, initially used for gathering leaves, hay, and crop remains. Over the centuries, rakes have evolved to serve various specialised functions, with improvements in materials and design to suit various agricultural and gardening needs.

Today, they come in different types tailored to specific tasks.

Steel Rakes: Best for heavy-duty tasks, soil preparation, spreading heavy materials, leveling, and removing heavy matter.

Poly Rakes: Ideal for light tasks like gathering leaves, collecting grass clippings, spreading light materials, and kid-friendly gardening activities.

Rubber Rakes: Excellent for clearing clutter from delicate surfaces, pet areas, ground cover maintenance, driveways, and patios, handling wet leaves, and non-metallic gardens.

Raking and removing debris keeps your garden healthy

During winter pruning, rakes play a key role by helping gardeners clear fallen leaves, twigs, and other plant matter, and prepare the garden for the upcoming growing season.

This clean-up helps create a healthier environment for plants and makes it easier to access and prune shrubs, trees, and other perennials. Additionally, rakes are used to spread mulch and compost, which protect plant roots from cold temperatures and provide essential nutrients.

After pruning, use a rake to clean up your garden. This practice keeps the area clean and reduces the risk of pests and diseases. Removing debris also prevents the buildup of organic matter that can harbour harmful organisms, promoting a healthier garden environment.

Choosing the right rake

Each type of rake has its own strengths and ideal uses, making it important to choose the right rake for the specific task at hand in your garden.

Steel Rakes

• Heavy-Duty Tasks: Steel rakes are ideal for heavy-duty gardening tasks due to their strength and durability. They can handle tough jobs such as breaking up hard soil, gravel, or compacted dirt.
• Ground Preparation: These rakes are excellent for preparing soil before planting, as they can easily break through hard surfaces and help to remove rocks, roots, and other bits and pieces.
• Spreading Mulch or Compost: Their sturdy tines are great for spreading heavy materials like mulch, compost, or even gravel.
• Levelling: Steel rakes can be used to level soil or sand in landscaping projects, ensuring a smooth and even surface.
• Debris Removal: They are also effective for removing heavy garden mess, such as wet leaves or branches.

Poly Rakes

• Light Gardening Tasks: Poly rakes are perfect for lighter gardening tasks due to their lightweight and easy handling.
• Leaf Gathering: They are particularly effective for gathering leaves, making them a popular choice for fall clean-up.
• Grass Clippings: These rakes are great for collecting grass clippings after mowing the lawn.
• Spreading Light Materials: They can be used to spread lighter materials like mulch or straw in garden beds.
• Kid-Friendly: Poly rakes are also suitable for children who are helping out in the garden, as they are safe and easy to handle.

Rubber Rakes

• Clearing Clutter from Delicate Surfaces: Rubber rakes are excellent for removing leaves and twigs from lawns and artificial turf without damaging the grass or turf fibres. They are also gentle enough to be used in flower beds where metal or steel rakes might harm delicate plants or flowers.
• Pet Areas: Rubber rakes can be effectively used to remove pet hair and waste from outdoor areas, such as dog runs or kennels, without causing damage to the surface.
• Ground Cover Maintenance: These rakes can help in spreading and maintaining mulch or other ground covers, ensuring an even distribution without disturbing the plants underneath.
• Driveways and Patios: They are suitable for sweeping leaves off driveways, patios, and other paved surfaces without scratching or marking them.
• Wet Leaves and Debris: Rubber rakes can be particularly effective in handling wet leaves and other matter. Their flexible tines can grip and move wet materials more efficiently than some other types of rakes.
• Delicate Areas: In gardens with delicate plants or near sensitive areas where metal might cause damage (like near a pond with a rubber liner), rubber rakes provide a safer alternative.

Lasher Tools’ range of rakes

Lasher Tools offers a range of reliable and durable rakes designed to meet all your gardening needs. Gardeners can also find replacement handles to extend the life of their tools.

Lawn Rake Rubber (25 Tooth) | FG00040

This lawn rake features 25 rubber teeth that are quieter than metal or poly tines on hard surfaces. It’s ideal for urban gardening where noise reduction is important. The rubber tines are also flexible, making it easy to smooth soil, spread mulch, and collect clippings without tearing up grass.

Rake – Combination Leaf Rake (Poly Handle) | FG00019

This combination leaf rake has a polyethylene handle and is designed for dual-purpose use. The rake head can bend both ways without snapping, making it highly durable. It is suitable for gathering leaves and other lightweight garden debris.

Rake – Heavy Duty Garden (14 Tooth Heavy Duty, All Steel) | FG00010

This heavy-duty garden rake has 14 steel teeth, making it perfect for tough gardening tasks. The all-steel construction ensures durability and strength, ideal for leveling soil, spreading mulch, and handling heavy debris.

Rake – Deluxe Garden (14 Tooth) | FG00041

Like the heavy-duty version, this deluxe garden rake also has 14 teeth but is designed for general garden use. It’s suitable for tasks like gathering leaves, spreading compost, and preparing garden beds.

Rake – Heavy Duty Garden (16 Tooth Heavy Duty, All Steel) | FG00015

With 16 heavy-duty steel teeth, this rake is built for demanding garden tasks. Its robust design makes it ideal for smoothing out stones, gravel, and soil in tough terrains.

Rake – Deluxe Garden (16 Tooth) | FG00038

This 16-tooth garden rake is designed for general gardening tasks. It is perfect for raking up stones, leveling soil, and preparing garden beds prior to planting.

Why Lasher?

Lasher Rakes stand out as the best brand to choose for garden maintenance due to their superior quality and durability. Built with high-grade materials, Lasher Rakes are designed to withstand the rigours of both light and heavy garden tasks.

Their ergonomic design ensures comfortable use, reducing strain during prolonged periods of raking. The precision-engineered tines efficiently gather leaves and clippings, making your post-pruning cleanup quick and thorough.

In addition, Lasher’s commitment to innovation and user feedback ensures that our rakes meet the highest standards of performance and reliability, making them an indispensable tool for any gardener aiming for a pristine, healthy garden.