I've always shredded the fresh oak leaves with my weed whacker in a garbage can.
^^^^ Ingenious, RoseBlush! You sort of have a garden food processor there.
I used all my leaves including the leaves of giant oak trees, in my garden and lawn. My lawn mower fine-mulches them for a nice layer on the lawn to over-winter. And the rest (I have TONS of leaves) is a base-filler for bark mulch in the spring. I have to buy less bark mulch this way. All the plants seem to love it. Every once in awhile I toss it in to the forest bed to cover low spots.
