Top-Performing Garden Rakes of 2025

In the world of gardening, a rake is an essential tool that every gardener should have in their shed. This article provides a review of various garden rakes, their features, and benefits, to help you make an informed decision when choosing the perfect rake for your garden needs.

Lawn Rakes

The Town and Country Extra Large Leaf Rake, made from recycled and recyclable plastic with a wooden handle, is a lightweight and efficient tool for raking leaves off the lawn. Its long handle is ideal for those with bad backs, while its curved tines are perfect for dragging out leaves. The rake's wide head prevents leaves from getting caught, and it slots on and off the handle easily. Moreover, it helps scoop up leaves for the compost heap effortlessly.

The Corona BigLOAD Junior Rake, on the other hand, comes with a ten-year warranty. It features an extra-wide plastic head and an aluminium handle with a plastic coating and a vinyl grip. However, some users have reported that the plastic coating quickly splits and cracks, making it uncomfortable and sharp in the hand.

Soil Rakes

The Kent & Stowe Garden Life Stainless Steel Soil Rake boasts 12 stainless steel tines and an FSC ash wood handle. Its lighter counterpart, the Kent & Stowe Stainless Steel Soil Rake, sports a long, FSC ash wood handle, and a stainless steel head with 14 tines. Both rakes are well-balanced and comfortable to use.

The Greenman Stainless Steel Soil Rake is well-made, balanced, easy on the back, and comfortable to use. It creates an excellent tilth and drills and tamps soil down well. The Greenman Ash Stainless Steel Lawn Rake is solid and well-made, excellent for scarifying, with a tine design that stops times spreading. However, it is heavier compared to other rakes.

The Draper Stainless Steel Soft Grip Soil Rake is well-made and sturdy but the handle can be tricky to spot in grass if dropped. The Wilkinson Sword Carbon Steel Rake is functional, unfussy, robust, pleasant to use, sturdy, and good value.

Leaf Rakes

Leaf rakes have a broad, fan-shaped head and are used for collecting leaves quietly and more environmentally friendly than leaf blowing. The Spear and Jackson Neverbend Plastic Leaf Rake with Tubular Steel Shaft is sturdy and strong but flexible, with a very lightweight design. However, the handle grip could be longer.

Other Rakes

The Sneeboer Narrow Tine Soil Rake is well-made, featuring quality materials, a long comfortable handle, small head for access between rows, and creates a fine tilth. It is, however, expensive.

The Burgon & Ball RHS Endorsed Ground Rake features a stainless steel bow head and an FSC hardwood handle. It rakes well but is not efficient for tamping the soil down after sowing or for creating seed drills.

Using Rakes Efficiently

To rake efficiently and look after your back, one should not overreach and use small strokes, rake in sections to make lots of small piles rather than one huge one, rake when leaves are dry rather than wet, and to remove thatch from a lawn rake vigorously in more than one direction to get as much thatch out as you can.

Choosing a Garden Rake

When choosing a garden rake, one should consider its comfort, materials, and where it will be used. For instance, if you have a large lawn, a lawn rake with a wide head like the Town and Country Extra Large Leaf Rake would be ideal. If you're working in a smaller space, a narrow tine rake like the Sneeboer Narrow Tine Soil Rake would be more suitable.

Testing Process

The reviews team tested a range of different soil, lawn, and leaf rakes, using them to rake a range of soils to a fine tilth, remove leaves from borders and lawns, and to scarify and remove thatch from the lawn. They used equal weight for design, comfort, performance, and value for money to calculate the scores.

Conclusion

In the 2025 test, the best-rated garden arbor was the Weka Sitzlaube Bozen by Weka Holzbau GmbH, praised for its combination of modern design, durability, adjustable backrests, extendable footrests, fold-out table, practical storage, and protective roof, making it an excellent choice for garden seating with style and comfort.

This review was last updated in April 2025. For more information on the testing process, see "How we Review".