Taking a leaf

 ShoparoundCrisp leaves crunching underfoot extend the autumnal weather into these first few weeks of calendar winter. However, for the houseproud, these little bundles of gold, amber and copper wreak havoc with the look of our great outdoors. It's the external equivalent of a filthy floor.

So how do you remove the little blighters and what to do with the waste once you've gathered it up? Take a leaf out of the professionals' book and invest in a garden power vacuum. Dublin City Council has several industrial-sized specimens but domestic variants are available from all good DIY stores.

Demand from garden tidyists is huge, says Peter Dolan, marketing manager with Woodies. "The garden vac gets plugged into the mains and your outside space is treated with the same thoroughness as your give your indoor rooms."

Woodies have several styles on sale. The Pro-Cut blower vac is their best value for money option. It holds 45 litres of material and mulches leaves as well as sucking them off your deck or lawn. Priced at €38.99, it is best suited to small to medium-sized spaces.

Label junkies might prefer to explore the suction power of Flymo's GardenVac Scirocco 2500w, which offers a 1:10 shredding ratio. Offering extra wattage, it costs €81.99 and alsohas an additional wheel option, which makes manoeuvring it across the lawn easy.

Bigger gardens would benefit better from a petrol-operated machine. These start from €169.

Another growth area in garden-enhancing accessories is the leaf and branch shredder, a domestic variant of a tool used by tree surgeons. "With the introduction of bin charges, everyone wants to make disposable waste as compact as possible. We're finding neighbours clubbing together to buy one between several households and sharing the benefits as well as the costs," says Dolan. The JCB shredder costs €201.99.

While this new technology is seducing the nation, old-fashioned garden rakes still sell strongly, as do jumbo-sized tidy pans, €9.99, a super-sized shovel ideal for leaf removal. And if you want to return your leaves to the soil, investing in a compost bin is essential. A practical if not pretty option costs €79.99.

If you don't compost at home you can deposit the waste at your local bring centre. Bring the leaves there in black plastic bags but these must be emptied into bins. Plastic bags cannot be left at bring centres.

Last week's Shoparound column implied that Cloney Audio offers consultation services from €200. In fact there is no charge on consultation services offered by Cloney Audio, Blackrock.