I'm originally from CA, one of my best garden years was when I used leaf mold in huge amounts.

I put the leaves down on top of the garden area and kept them good and wet all winter. Then I tilled them in the next spring. The raised beds really loved that.

If you have a tractor available for your use, with big piles you can simply turn them with the bucket of the tractor.

I am always surprised, myself, at how little I have to compost, and I live on 6 acres. But I have a 3 compartment system, built of t-posts and old sheet metal from a barn roof. Each bay is about 6 by 6 by 4 feet high.

The first bay is filled with all the new stuff. Then it's to be turned into the second bay when it's full, to begin the next batch, and a third bay when ready.

I have to tell you, my first bay has never become fuller than half way, and it's down to about a foot high now.

Granted, I am more into mulching, and letting the plants decompose where they are. I fight this mental thing about robbing Peter to pay Paul, by stealing vegetative matter from one area to feed another, so my compost bins do not get a whole lot of attention. Not to mention my garden areas are about an acre, and the thought of trying to come up with an inch of compost twice yearly is way too daunting for me.

Instead, I've invested in straw mulch, and am probably going to add sawdust to that, as I have a huge free pile to take from down the road at a sawmill.

One way you can contain leaves is put them in fencing material. Just lightly set up a circle of fence and toss it all in.

We were all "beginners" at one point. Calm down, take a deep breath and relax. The actual composting may be complex but the human part is relatively easy.

Did you look at the FAQs? That might be the place to start, after that, if you have specific questions, fire away. We (the other members) can supply you with our experiences and some of us can post pictures or links to pictures to show different methods/techniques.

So pour a cup of coffee, pull up a chair and be prepared for some good advice, great advice and some not so great advice. Pick and choose what seems to fit for you and then do it. I can guarantee that you will change as you go along, we all do/did.

Lloyd

It's all very easy - pile organic materials up or spread them thickly and they WILL decompose. If it's a mix of dead leaves, small twigs and other raked-up stuff, don't worry about the whole "green versus browns" equation.

1 - Spread it in thick layers as a weed control mulch over vegetable gardens and flower beds.

2 - Make wire mesh bins and pile them full of the stuff and let them decompose. No turning needed, but the bins keep things a bit tidier.
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1447458/building_a_cheap_wire_compost_bin.html

Depending on your local rainfall, you may need to water the bins occasionally to keep them moist enough to decompose.

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If you have grass clippings, mix them with something dry (dead leaves, shredded paper, erc.) so they won't stink.

Mystic,
I take an incredibly simple route here; I don't measure, test, take temps, etc. I dump. And if it smells, I toss in shredded newspaper. Don't even know why that works; I just know that it does.
I do have a bin, but from October through early spring I just toss it all right onto my garden. Yesterday I took the cardboard from a large case of water, and tossed everything into that, especially lots of used coffee grounds (UCG), then just plopped it down in the garden. I love peeking under old pieces of cardboard to see how weed-free and dark the soil looks.
Just have fun with it.
Nancy

Its OK to rake up everything into a pile, and then just let it sit. It will reduce in volume in 6 months, and in 12 months it will be mostly finished compost. If you are in a windy area, you might have to contain the pile with fencing. This is not to say that adding in a source of nitrogen, adding water, and turning the pile is wasted effort. A pile that is actively maintained will generate more compost in less time, and that's important if you have a lot of leaves, grasses, and brush to deal with.

PT03,
You're so right; we were all beginners at one point. When I began, it wasn't to amend my soil, it was to save money. We paid by the bag for garbage, so we tossed it into a pile in the woods that bordered our yard. It was only when I saw how beautiful the "soil" looked (didn't have a clue what it was) that I started to look into what I was doing. That was nearly 20 years ago. (Wow! )
Since that worked out so well, I never changed my "technique."

As ericwi says, "Its OK to rake up everything into a pile, and then just let it sit." A slight modification, which is what I mostly do, is to make the pile a windrow, i.e., a long narrow pile. That way I can add new materials to one end and leave the other end to compost slowly. I'll occasionally turn it, but not often.

When I need compost I take it from the end that's oldest. Eventually that end gets used up so I start adding new materials to that side and leave the other end alone to finish. I don't know if I'm explaining this well, but basically I add to the left side and take from the right. When the right side is used up I reverse the process. I don't wait for perfect finished compost - I take what I need and let it finish in the garden.

Just start something easy - you can always construct fancy bins later.

Claire

I'm a beginner too "Mystic"...but maybe a few months ahead of you. I started a compost pile back in October with the same concerns about whether the commitment to the effort would yield any kind of results. I had thought about it for a few years, but just decided this year to do it. I live in Los Angeles, so my access to materials was kinda limited but figured I'd just experiment and if it didn't work I could just send my pile to the local public compost heap.

My first week I was sort of a compost Ninja. Since I didn't have enough leaves of my own (I have a lot of palms and dessert plants on my property) I started raiding the green bins of my neighbors in the wee hours of the morning. I stole leaves and lawn clippings from their bins on pick up days and piled them in the corner of my yard where my veggie garden goes in the spring. I layered it, watered it and left it. No measuring tools, no fancy additives, just a bunch of stuff from my neighbors yards. Well guess what, within a couple of days I had a pile of natural materials that were happily cooking away. I started adding kitchen scraps into the pile and was astounded that each time I turned the pile it would emit a plume of steam, and those scraps were nowhere to be found. They were becoming soil. This is all to say...Don't think too much about composting. It will work. This forum is great because as you continue to read you can get knowledge about what other people are doing and what you can do to help facilitate the breakdown and maintenance of your own personal ingredients. But I'm finding that, as a beginner, it's super easy. Hope you have as much fun with it as I've been having. Plus, most everyone on this forum is super nice and helpful.
Enjoy!!
Don

Last year we needed a compost area FAST! So I found how to make a Compost Corral on you tube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMYDuBsROg8

It took my husband and I 2 hours to put together. We used 8 ft timbers, blocks at the bottom and chicken wire on the inside. We left the bottom open to shovel the dirt out. We also made it 4 feet high. We live on 3 acres and have over 80 trees, lots of leaves, fruit, and vegetables to compost. It all fit last year and it has worked great. I hope this helps, good luck and have fun!

Thankyou all. I am sure its one of those things I need to "jump" into. Ok this weekend those leaves are going to start doing something USEFUL!

The easiest way to start is just to pile it up and let it rot...you'll learn tricks and expertise with experience. Don't be fooled by the people who make composting so complicated. Nature has always done it by just letting stuff rot where it falls, no reason to make the process so difficult.

Mystic, I am not a beginner and have been composting for 25 years, but am a laissez-faire composter and just pile stuff up in an inconspicuous place. There's a pile in back of the front gardens, and a pile in back of the back gardens. All the garden and some of the yard refuse goes on these piles - after a year or 2, I dig out and spread the compost underneath, and then usually incorporate the compost area into the gardens and make a new pile someplace else. The only hazard has been that cold-composting won't kill weed seeds and so I make an attempt not to let stuff go to seed and not put the seed heads on the pile. Otherwise, they get spread with the compost and I get lots of unwanted seedlings (already have LOTS of seedlings that sow themselves here and there in the gardens, some of which are quite interesting).

I've also got a black plastic compost bin, and all the kitchen and household scraps go in there. I compost a lot of paper products too, such as used napkins, paper towels, toilet paper rolls, paper plates, etc.

Let me confuse you even further. I am the laziest of all.

Here is a link that might be useful: Building Up Soil

"I gave up composting."

GASP!!

;-)

Lloyd

Ya, they have been rampant on here of late! A good morning to you Lloyd.

Curt

'Morning Curt

I'm on the early shift, not mulch going on so catching up at SCM. We had a foot of snow yesterday from that Alberta Clipper, I think it went north of you but you're gonna get the cold air behind it I think.

Lloyd

The link below will take one to about the best composting tutorial I have found.

Here is a link that might be useful: Composting Tutorial

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I have to agree with you Kimmsr. That's an excellent site.
..

Haven't been lurking around this site in a while... but glad to be back. Lloyd, I've missed your humor. :)

Does anyone here compost clothing? I have a sock I threw in a year or two ago, and every time I sift, back into the pile it goes. Never seems to break down. Pile not hot enough??

Kim

"I have a sock I threw in a year or two ago"

Is it dark brown? I'm missing one of mine! (I usually blame it on the drier).

;-)

Just to keep it slightly on topic, here is a decent fundamentals of composting article.

Lloyd

KIMMSR! Thank you, thank you, for the link to the Florida Online Composting Center. I used to have that site bookmarked and then my computer gave up the ghost, and I couldn't remember what the site was called.

The Virtual Pile on that site is so much fun =:)

I think our overwhelmed beginner will love it.

A pretty fun read for beginners is "Let it Rot". Don't know the author .
But, just basics, read here, make a pile or buy/make a bin, toss stuff in, turn it or don't. Stuff will break down.
It's that easy! NT

Greengarden, you/ your link is talking about "sheet composting".
I turned under shredded Leaves late in the fall & turned under 14 large wheelbarrow loads of coffee waste to day on it also.Thanks for the LINK.
buellracing01-BLASPHEMY, heresy & profanity. :-)
You are walking on my dreams of everyone composting & gardening.
kimmsr,thanks for the link.
pt03, always good to hear from you.

Kimmsr thanks for the link that was great. Until my husband has time to help with an enclosure I am going with the "inconspicuous" pile. Mostly I have leaves - what do I do for green? I usually give all the grass clippings to the sheep!

Mysticfoxtrot:

Anything alive/recently alive. Kitchen scraps, green leaves, grass clippings, weeds (as long as they haven't gone to seed), trimmings from plants... Any of that kind of stuff.