One way to get air in the center of your pile is to make chimney out of chicken wire. Make it taller than the middle of your pile. Stake it down, ad then build your pile around it in the fall.

To shred leaves when you are making the pile for the winter is to use your leaf blower in reverse and suck them up as you shred them.

Some people also make a chimney of PVC pipe with holes drilled in it. Stick the pipe in the center of the bin or pile, wiggle it occasionally, rotate to aerate the pile. They also use them to add water when needed.

Karen

I spread leaves about 5" deep across my driveway and run over them with my push mower. I've got a grinder/shredder, I've toyed with building a hopper to drop leaves to the deck of a mower, and I have even tried the weedeater in a fit of frustration. The shredder is WAY too inefficient for shredding leaves IMO because you spend so much time keeping the chute clean and loading leaves. I feel like the weedeater has a lot of shredding potential, but I haven't figured it out yet.

I try to keep the leaves piled up for at least a few weeks before grinding. When I get to the bottom of the pile, there are a ton of worms to be distributed to different beds around the yard.

I've put the leaves in a garbage can and gone at them with a weed wacker. It works. I have a Toro leaf blower/vac which shreds them really well.

Karen