Best "yard tool" in the world!

Well done N2. I assume that your Toro is a 'shred and vac' as well as a blower.

No Toro? as they say! A very handy tool especially as leaves normally take so long to break down. However much depends on where you live. Anything that saves work and enables more time to enjoy the garden is good but one thing that's also good for you is peace and quiet. Sorry if I appear negative.

We have a similar leaf vac and I find it invaluable for keeping paths etc tidy. The shredded leaves rot down into usable leafmould within a year. I don't find our electric one to be terribly noisy, Heron, though petrol ones can be.

I love mine even though its heavy it does a great job of sucking up the leaves.

Gilli, you are absolutely correct!
The blower/vac has a metal impeller that will shred any light leaves and twigs with ease and turn the shreddings
into a great addition to the compost pile or garden mulch projects. I just love it!
It lets me recreate the effect of the "native forest floor" on a much faster scale in my gardens.

I am SO blessed to have a native forest area next to my home that I can study. I often go out into the trails that I have cut and dig into the forest floor to see what mother nature does with the "soil layering" and the natural organic material build-up that occurs. I also note the amount of earth-worms and other soil life around a particularly healthy native wild plant. When I apply the same things to my potted plants and soil planted plants, they almost always thrive like crazy and rarely have insect or fungal problems.

Mother Nature is a great "teacher" and I have been "all ears" for about 3 years. Fascinating!

~N2O~

Update on the "test grass"..
The area where the grass was planted was my old "corn experiment area" that had been inundated with synthetic chemicals such as "Miracle Grow", "24D", and others.
I wanted to see if it was possible to "de-tox" an area with only localized ingredients.
The first step was to sift about 6 5gal buckets of compost from my own 1 1/2 year old compost pile through a 1/4 inch screen mesh and add that to the growing area.
I also added a few pounds of "zeolite" to stabilize the biological activity in the soil.
After the "test grass" was planted, I spread about 2" of that wonderful native shredded leaves to help it survive the winter. So far, the newly "bare rooted" grass clumps are doing great and have a very healthy dark-green look.
I hope this thing works.. If the grass survives the winter, it should really do good next growing season..
We'll see what happens.
~N2O~