Hi Hal,

I get to see a variety of composty heaps in the course of my work, and I have to say that the only thing that seems to make any difference (in my opinion) is the sheer size of the heap. The bigger, the better. It's always the top layer and the edges that are least rotted.

You can help yourself by making a neat squared-off pile, rather than a pyramid: even if you don't have any fencing or edging, muck can still be piled up with squarish sides (years of experience mucking out horses...) but it's easier if you can make simple bins from pallets, or from posts and chickenwire, or even by piling up old bricks neatly and alternately, to make "walls" with lots of air holes.

I have two clients with what I would have called "badly built" bins, with solid sides, and with solid concrete floors, but both of them are a good five feet across, six or more feet deep (and four feet high) and both of them make fantastic stuff.

Technically, there is a difference between making compost the normal way, and making it from leaf mould, but it sounds as though you are making normal stuff, in which case George's comments are correct about water being the important element: if it's too dry, it simply won't rot.

Hope this helps?!