The late summer and early autumn period is one of the most productive times in the garden calendar, and also one of the most equipment-intensive. Lawn renovation, tree and hedge cutting, leaf clearance, and winter preparation all happen in a compressed window between September and November. Some of the tools required are worth owning if you use them regularly; others represent a significant purchase for a task you will do once or twice a year, which is where hiring makes clear financial sense.
Hire: Lawn Scarifier
Scarifying removes the thatch that builds up between grass plants at soil level, which if left unchecked reduces drainage, increases disease pressure, and weakens the turf. Most lawns benefit from an annual scarification in early autumn, before overseeding if the lawn is thin.
A professional scarifier covers ground significantly faster than a hand rake, cuts more aggressively, and produces a far more thorough result. The volume of material removed from a scarified lawn is usually far greater than homeowners expect, and disposing of it is the most time-consuming part of the job. A scarifier is a clear hire case: used once or twice a year, takes up significant storage space, and the professional version is dramatically more effective than the domestic alternative.
Hire: Garden Chipper or Shredder
Autumn pruning, hedge cutting, and the general tidying of woody growth produces volumes of material that are difficult to dispose of without either a compost heap large enough to handle woody material or a chipper. A petrol-powered chipper turns branches up to a specified diameter into woodchip that can be used as mulch or composted. This is a classic one-season-use tool that makes no financial sense to purchase for a domestic garden.
Hire: Stump Grinder
If you have tree stumps that need removing, a stump grinder is the most practical solution. Manual stump removal is exhausting and often incomplete. A stump grinder reduces a stump to below ground level in a fraction of the time. We hire petrol and electric stump grinders in sizes appropriate for domestic garden stumps through to larger commercial requirements.
Hire: Log Splitter
If you have a wood burner or open fire and have had trees felled or large branches taken down, a hydraulic log splitter makes the conversion from rounds to firewood a fraction of the effort of manual splitting. Available on daily hire, a log splitter will process a significant quantity of timber in a day.
Worth Buying: Basic Hand Tools
Hand tools used throughout the year, including secateurs, loppers, and a good pair of gloves, are worth owning. A decent leaf rake used weekly through autumn is inexpensive enough that hiring is not practical. The hire calculation works for powered tools used occasionally, not for the everyday hand tools of garden maintenance.
Contact Olympus Tool Hire Newton Abbot to check availability and hire rates for autumn garden tools.