Despairing about the vast amount of prunings after our very wet summer in Toscana, and not wanting to use the local method of burning, I am now the owner of a shredder. It is amazing what it has reduced to mulch in the two days which it has been here. I chose an electric variety which weighs about 19kg, so can be moved around the garden. It is said to be able to deal with stems up to 35 mm diam.
So far I have found that it munches up woody material without any difficulty but doesn't much like a lot of leaf material, such as the shorter prunings of Feijoa. I remembered a clip from the Gardens in the Sun DVD at Sparoza where Minyon Yoo was using a shredder. She seemed to be feeding in cut flower heads of Phlomis,and then the clip stopped. So I would like to ask advice from other Shredder Operators as to their techniques. Am I asking too much to expect this one to chew up leaves?
