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10 best garden brushes

Whether it's for scrubbing stubborn moss from the decking or clearing a leaf-strewn pathway, these are the brushes that sweep away the competition

Friday 09 March 2018 15:44 GMT

Every garden needs a brush. Whether you have a tiny patch of patio or vast acreage riddled with an extensive network of paths, there will be times when only a sweep of the brush will get it sufficiently tidy.

What type of brush do I need?

The busy gardener will need to recruit help from a variety of brushes – for shifting ingrained muck on patios and pathways, a stiff, bristly brush is best. Bristles made from bassine (a coarse leaf fibre) provide the necessary rigidity.

If you require a lighter touch when you wish to swish away smaller detritus such as dust from a shed floor or small leaf clippings from the surface of a manicured lawn, look for a sorghum bristle (made from a species of grass used as a crop) or a head made from coco, a soft fibre produced from the husks of coconuts.

Nylon bristles are commonplace, and can be made soft, stiff or wiry, which make them suitable for a variety of tidying tasks.

How were they tested?

For testing purposes we took our brooms and brushes into our particularly unkempt winter garden, complete with slimy, leaf-strewn pathways and weather-ravaged decking. We were looking for tools that were nicely balanced, comfortable to wield, and most importantly, did the job they were asked.

There’s a brush for all manner of filthy jobs, but which one is right for you? We’ve been scrubbing like we’re trialling for the GB curling team to bring you 10 of the best...

Bentley Bulldozer Broom: £16.99, Amazon

Featuring a vast, 600mm-wide head and neoprene grips to allow for firm-handed sweeping, this enorma-broom will slash your tidy time. It’s a broom aimed at the building trade – specifically for sweeping up rubble – but is brilliant for tackling leaf-strewn driveways and large patio areas. The brush head is made from a combination of soft and stiff PVC bristles, which make short work of dust and larger debris. The broom arrives flat-packed but it’s a simple case of screwing the shaft into the head and fitting on the metal bracket, which takes a matter of minutes. Once you’ve completed your sweeping chores, this broom can be dismantled for easy storage.

Burgon & Ball Miracle Block Paving & Patio Brush: £9.99, Webbs Direct

Pesky weeds and mossy protrusions are a bane for anyone who has block paving areas in their garden. You could get down and dirty with a weeding knife, or deploy one of these handy brushes to save you scrabbling around on all fours. The slender shaft and small compact wooden head makes this a light and breezy brush to wield, while the three rows of stiff, spring steel bristles offer up maximum penetration into the tightest nooks and crannies. Your weeds will eventually grow back of course, but at least you’ll be teaching them a lesson.

Crocus Pot Brush: £8.99, Waitrose

This spiky little chap is for plunging into plant pots to remove soil deposits and grime – dirty pots can harbour diseases so it's an important task to undertake. The thick, hard-wearing bassine bristles make short work of ingrained dirt – it’s not so effective on square-sided vessels because of its dome-like shape but when faced with a traditional garden plant pot, it took just a few rigorous rotations for the terracotta to buff up as good as new. The handle on the brush is made from solid ash and felt suitably sturdy and comfortable in the hand.

Harris Groundsman Hand Brush: £4.20, Amazon

Long-handled brooms are fine for clearing large areas, but there will come a time when you’ll need to resort to a spot of close-hand combat. The bristles on this Harris hand brush are made of soft coco, which makes this the ideal brush for sweeping up dust and fine particles from the shelves of a shed. The contoured handle, made from FSC-certified sustainable wood, feels comfortable in use and, unlike some cheaper makes on the market, this one didn’t shed any bristles during testing. Not a problem if it did though – it’s a brush, just sweep them up.

Roughneck Patio & Decking Brush Set: £15.80, Amazon

Owners of garden decking will know that the surface of their lovely wooden structure is a magnet for algae, moss and mould that will quickly turn into a skating rink in wet conditions without regular cleaning. Swabbing decking is the devil's own job, but using a dedicated decking brush at least makes the task a little less painful. This bristly offering from Roughneck features two interchangeable heads – one wide scrubber for large areas and a smaller, pointy version for tackling awkward corners and narrow gaps. Both heads sport tough wire bristles, both light and nimble, and made short work of the slimy expanse of winter ravaged decking we tasked it with. The light, sturdy plastic shaft screws securely into each head, and is easy to swap over.

Besom Broom: £24, Hen & Hammock

The coarse, twiggy head on this handsome, UK-produced witches’ broom makes this a fine choice for prising wet leaves from pavement. With time, the bristles will wear down, but with this natural ageing you’ll get an increased broom stiffness for added bite. The handle is made from hazel, and the broom head silver birch – both of which are cut from sustainable resources. Its narrow shape makes it easy to manoeuvre in tight spaces, so it’s a good choice for keeping in a shed or greenhouse. This Wiccan wonder has the potential to be an amusing Mother’s Day gift for green-fingered mums, but don’t blame us if the joke falls flat.

Bentley National Trust Tool Cleaning Brush: £5.99, Buydirect4U

This bristly buddy is the one to reach for to help keep your garden tools grime free and in tip-top condition. The handle, made from FSC-approved wood and with a rubber grip, feels firm and assured when dishing out soapy water treatment on our mud-encrusted spade, with the bristles proving stiff enough resistance to dislodge muck. The bristles are plastic-coated and non-scratching, which makes this a good choice to unleash on power tools with plastic housings such as filthy strimmers and sawdust-encrusted chainsaws.

Spear & Jackson Garden Brush: £13.99, Amazon

This innocent-looking yard brush hides a secret weapon – among the nylon bristles lies a row made from galvanised steel, which scours and scrapes away stubborn grime. We found this broom, with a beech wood head, particularly adept at shifting moss from patios, with the metal bristles chomping at their target and the softer nylon outer gathering up the dislodged mess. The weatherproof hardwood handle is a lengthy 155cm, which makes this broom great for plunging under hedges and into difficult-to-reach areas.

Red Gorilla Corn Broom: £6.95, Red Gorilla

This is the type of broom you might spot swishing around front porches in vintage American films, or used to shoo cats away from plates of steaming fish in Tom and Jerry cartoons. The head is made from sorghum, a straw that makes for thin, strong, flexible bristles. They make a fine job of sweeping up small particles from stone floors and for flicking bits of grime from out of difficult-to-reach corners. Broom purists will also enjoy the satisfying swishing sound it makes as you work. The wooden handle is lightweight, although certainly not the sturdiest we tested. It comes in a variety of colours – red, blue, pistachio, pink, purple, sky blue or natural wood – and is available in standard or large sizes.

Claber Whippy Turbo Brush: £33, The Greenhouse People

This water-powered brush attaches to your hose via a quick click system – push the handle into the hose connector, turn on the tap and set it to work on your greenhouse, where an internal rotating brush in the head whips up the water into a swirling frenzy that no grime can resist. The lightweight aluminium shaft is extendable and affords a reach of up to 120cm, long enough to tackle most medium-sized garden greenhouses. It also sports a pivoting head which makes it particularly handy at cleaning the greenhouse roofs (just remember to wear your waterproofs). It only took a few passes on our most ingrained, algae-stained greenhouse panes before producing sparkling results. This brush can also be unleashed on dirty automobiles and filthy wheelbarrows if the need arises.

The Verdict: Garden brushes

Spear and Jackson’s patio brush will scrub your filthy patio to submission, but for big messy jobs, the huge-headed Bentley Bulldozer broom sweeps aside the competition.