Garden Shredders

If you're a believer in bio-cultivation, then you need to think about adding a garden shredder to your arsenal of garden tools and equipment. These super-useful machines turn garden 'waste' such as twigs, leaves, hedge clippings and leftovers from pruning into a valuable source of natural nutrients. Shredded organic material, once rotted down, becomes compost and this natural plant food is essential for the promotion of a healthy garden.

Electric & Petrol Garden Cutting

Like all garden tools, there's a bewildering choice of shredders, chippers and mulchers on the market but one way or another they all do the same job. Available in petrol or electric formats, light duty shredders start at around £80 for a basic electric model, rising to the £400 mark for a feature-rich model. Petrol shredders are more powerful and aimed for heavy-duty work.

Shredders can also fall into the category of garden vacs. Electric or petrol driven, these highly portable machines are used in garden spaces for vacuuming up or blowing leaf litter, with some capable of cutting the leaves using an in-built shredder.

Dedicated shredders and chippers tend to be wheel-mounted machines, which can be pushed around the garden to where they're needed.

Garden Shredding Features

Obvious restrictions apply when comparing petrol and electric models. Petrol machines are more powerful and able to shred a much thicker diameter of branch - up to 70mm with the top-of-the-range models. They're also more mobile because there are no range-restricting cables attached.

Most basic shredders feature a two-blade system resulting in small chips perfect for mulching. As you move up the range so the number of blades increases. In the top-of-the-range models, you will find pre-shredding blades working in conjunction with adjustable main blades and flails, sometimes numbering as many as 24 cutting parts. Engine sizes differ too - some optimum machines feature a 10hp power plant with multiple-hopper options and high capacity collection bags for heavy-duty long-term use.

A number of garden shredders, particularly electric, feature noise-reduction ergonomics and 'whisper quiet' engines for use in residential areas. These machines employ a cutting/squashing mechanism to achieve maximum material input at minimum noise levels.

Various Size Garden Tools

As with all things, it's a question of scale. If you have a small garden producing little natural waste, then consider one of the entry-level electric shredders available at World of Power. If however you have a huge garden space with a variety of large, high maintenance shrubs and lots of non-perennials with heavy leaf-drop, then look at one of the powerful two- or four-stroke petrol machines.