Last fall I dumped leaves into my enclosed 6x8 garden to a depth of almost 2 feet. That's it, just dumped them - no shredding or anything. By spring it was a mulch of less than 2 inches deep. By summer it was all gone. I did not lose any to the wind - it all went into the soil. Simply amazing!

If the leaves from your trees are not to be mulch mowed back into the soil under the trees they came from, to enrich that soil, they can be shredded and applied to your garden as mulch.

Two feet thick and no shredding fist?! I did that once and never again. I smothered everything that way and nothing came up the next spring.
I shred them first, and try to use oak leaves which won't become slimy and mat down. I mulch every fall with a about 6 inches of leaves and put the rest in a couple of big bins to "compost". That way I can use them also next year as they compost down to leaf mould.

It amazes me how fast stuff breaks down over the course of a few months in the beds. It seems I never add enough and you are right, by summer it is almost all gone!

I mulch all my fall leaves back into my lawn. I just run the mower over them until they are like confetti.

I also import leaves from the neighbors to add to mine.

The problem I have, here in Iowa, with leaves as mulch is our windy fall and winter weather. They will not stay in place.

The 100 windmill "electric generating wind farm" just 3 miles north of my house is a testament to my plight.

I have found that if the leaves are chopped up by the lawn mower, placed in the beds and watered after each application, they tend to stay put. I also put a layer of pine straw over them too.

I collect lawn clippings and chopped leaves with my bagging push mower, and use them for compost and mulch on my raised beds. In the fall, I also watch for my neighbors to put out bags of leaves for trash pick up and drag them home at night before bedtime.

Last fall I started two new raised beds to plant this spring with tomatoes and herbs. I piled up 6 foot high piles of leaves in the beds. Every 6 to 9 inches, I put on a thin layer of lawn clippings and finished compost to inoculate the leaves. I sprayed then with the water hose every 6 to 9 inches to dampen them as well. In the 4 months from December until April, the leaves composted from 6 feet down to about 18 inches deep in the beds. Due to health problems, I am not able to turn the piles of leaves, other than turning over the top 6 inches or so once ever few weeks so the outside of the piles would get inside "to cook" a bit. The leaves were maple, oak, and poplar. When I'm in a hurry and want compost to heat up quickly and be ready in a few weeks, I dump a bag of leaves on the ground and run over them a few times with the lawn mover, then scoop them up, and add them on the compost pile with some grass clippings. If they are not chopped they take a few months rather than a few weeks if chopped up. Whenever I pile up leaves to more than a foot high, I add a shovel full of finished compost and sprinkle it over the top of the leaves to inoculate them with bacteria and fungi. When I don't inoculate them with old compost, they will eventually break down, but it takes twice as long.

I transplanted seedlings directly into this leaf mold / compost in April, and my tomatoes and herbs have been growing great ever since. On top of the beds, I added a 1/2 inch layer of Walmart Special Kitty Natural Litter, which is plain calcined clay. This kitty litter helps the compost hold water better and improves the tilth of the compost in the beds.

In Ohio and Iowa, the results are likely to be very different from those of us in Tennessee, Virginia, and elsewhere in Zone 7. The leaves won't compost very well chopped or un-chopped while covered in snow. The warmer days in Zone 7 make a big difference.

"Can I just shred them and put them in my beds as mulch?" Yes.

"...or should I let them "rest" for a year?" IMHO, if there was a garden to put them into, then letting them 'rest' for a year would be unproductive. By placing them in the gardens you are 1)saving yourself some work since you won't have to do it later, 2)providing the soil with good carbon nutrients, and 3) encouraging the worms to move in and help you out sooner than later.

Leaves make a wonderful soil amendment. If you live in a windy area, blowing away can be a problem in winter winds and spring storms. Wet them down well after spreading and/or sprinkle something else on top like soil or compost or something heavier. Leaving perennial stems in place on the plants also helps to snag leaves and keep them in place.

No need to let them age, they are perfect as is. If applied too thick they can mat and repel water, so I like to use just a couple of inches. If you shred and mix with something else like grass clippings or UCGs that also prevents matting.

Collect your neighbors leaves, too, and save any leftovers for you compost pile. I got a little carried away last year and I'm still using last year's leaves.

Karen