Blow Them to Pieces

THE STIHL SHA56 SHREDDER VAC/BLOWER

Suck it up, then shred it, with this three-in-one tool

Fall may be a ways off (for readers in the northern hemisphere, at least), but this superb, cordless garden gadget is so worth having that you may want to buy it early.

Made by Stihl, a Leica-quality family firm in Germany, it’s a leaf blower that converts into a garden vacuum that will suck up your displaced leaves and assorted botanical crud, shred it, and then compress it all down to around one-tenth of its original volume.