Compost boosters are generally a waste of money. All the microbes are there, all you need is the right moisture, air and C:N ratio. You don't say where you are but I suspect you had a long cold wet winter?

Can you find some hot greens like fresh manure, grass clippings, coffee grounds, food scrap etc.? This will get things going. Pee has a high nitrogen content so if that's feasible (especially at night :-) it will help too.

I doubt it would be easy to shred wet leaves with a leaf blower or any kind of equipment normally available to homeowners. A huge industrial yard waste shredder would do it but you probably don't have one.

I didn't realize that my old profile doesn't show up apparently. I am in East Tennessee 7b. We did have a long cold wet winter. I can add some new green - almost time to cut the grass so I could add some clippings to the existing compost piles. I called the local rental place but they had no shredders at all. I may try other locations as well. I can't compost on my driveway where the big pile is. These leaves just don't look they will break down any time soon and they have lots of water in them from numerous snowfalls. I never thought I would be unhappy I had lots of leaves.

Can you set up some bins and move them to it? As soon as it warms up a bit you will start seeing "action".

Layers of leaves with something high nitrogen between them, or watering them with diluted fertilizer on layers would kick start it.

For my normal composting, years ago I purchased a very inexpensive 50 ft roll of 2X4 by 4 ft fencing. I then cut it into five ten foot lengths, cutting midway between two vertical running wires. They form an about perfect ring for composting, just bending 3 or 4 of the wires along an edge. The advantage is that it is very easy (so long as you don't bend too many tabs over and not too severely) to remove the fence ring to turn the pile, just popping it off, refastening it in its new spot, and then forking the pile over into the empty ring. For a case like yours, with wet leaves, these rings are awesome. Pile the leaves into the ring, making sure they are evenly moist. Put in a shovel full of dirt ever so often among layers. Put in layers of greens or kitchen waste or manure or whatever you have. The ring will allow you to compress the wet leaves down into a compressed form. Once packed in there, the heating up will happen a little more effectively. Then, in an empty ring, put in a good layer at the bottom. Empty your kitchen compost bucket there, and then use some of the leaves to cover that layer. When you mow or pull weeds from the garden or have other greens, add them and cover with some of the leaves. Use some of the leaves as mulch wherever its needed as the gardening season heats up, around tomatoes and peppers, around melons, squash, and cucumbers, even along either side of rows of peas or beans. I even use them to mulch flowers, and other garden beds. For me, by the time August comes around, I wish I had a whole lot more leaves, because I have several really good working compost piles that will be ready for use by the time spring planting time gets here.

Thank you, I'm an experienced composter but like I said have always used shredded leaves. I have also made rings which I now use but this pile of leaves would take 5 ot 6 and I am out of space. Leaves are on every raised bed and every possible space I can think of with a hill the same size as the picture of big yard bags full of the leaves. I put them a foot high around some of my raised beds and they haven't reduced in size much at all. I have got to find a way to shred them to reduce the size. I hope you are right that they will decompose fast when it heats up but I'm afraid not since they aren't shredded.

If you've been composting and mulching for awhile your soil is probably fantastic, so you might consider, dare I even mention it (the horror!), actually, you know, getting rid of those leaves so you don't have to deal with them this year. Maybe there's some place in need of mulch, or a composter who needs browns.

GREAT idea. I was thinking about the cost of me having to pay to do something with them - I already paid a worker to bag about half of them. But I could put it on Craigslist and see if anyone will come pick them up! Thank you!! I do hate to give them up like you said... but my neighbors are probably running out of patience with my ugly leaf pile.

Why can't you just spread them over lawn and mow? The grass will say you big thanks and cover all "browns" in a week.

Now *that* sounds like a good idea!! I was going to suggest lots of used coffee ground from Starbucks turned in. This will cause it to heat up. But I think you said you did not want to compost in place. I would love to have that pile of leaves. It's hard to find leaves in Phoenix!

If you can shred even just a few of the leaves, here's what I'd try: get some of the leaves shredded, keep them covered in plastic while they start to decompose, then bury them in the pile. Whatever you do, cover the pile with a piece of plastic and keep it covered. Water absorbs a lot of heat, so you need to keep the rain from cooling the pile while it gets heated up.

Of course, shredding the leaves will solve your problems but you've already said you don't have access to a shredder.

I do have a shredder but it won't shred wet leaves. I had plastic over them all winter but the cold and wind tore the plastic to shreds. I have re-covered them and may be able to shred some of the leaves around the edges but they are so saturated by water its unbelievable. So are my three compost piles. I just turned them to try to get some air to them but not sure it will help till they dry out a little. And its rained all day and will tomorrow... One composter is a black plastic one with a cover so it should fare better than the others. I have added in greens to the compost piles but I have to get rid of the mountain - thanks to some of the good suggestions I've gotten. Thanks!