Petrol leaf blowers are loud enough to be banned in some Sydney councils and California cities. Cordless models have come a long way — the best now match a 25cc two-stroke for output and run for 30+ minutes on a batter

A clean lawn edge is what makes a tidy yard look professional. The grass can be patchy and the beds half-weeded, but a sharp edge along the path tells the world someone cares. A string trimmer (line trimmer, whipper-snip

Pushing a mower up a slope is a workout. Doing it twice a fortnight is an injury. A self-propelled mower with strong rear-wheel drive turns a hilly yard back into a manageable Saturday job — but most so-called self-pro

If your lawn is under 300 sqm, a cordless mower is almost certainly the right tool. Modern brushless motors and 40–80V battery packs cut as well as a small petrol mower for half the noise, none of the fumes, and storag

Once a branch is too thick for loppers, you reach for a pruning saw. Modern pull-stroke saws — almost all Japanese-influenced now — are an order of magnitude faster than the old push-stroke pruning saws of a generati

Reaching into a tree from a ladder is the single most dangerous job in a home garden. A good pole pruner — manual or powered — keeps both feet on the ground and turns a one-day job into an afternoon. The trade-off is