I use very large pots something like 30 gallons. I have two for compost. I through all kinds of stuff in it. table scraps, grass, leaves, coffee, egg shells. I could keep going on but I'm sure you know what to put in it. I mix it up once a week or so and hit it with water once a week. It takes about a year to turn in to good compost. There will be a lot of good stuff on the bottom half but will not be good usable at the top. I also combine the bins a couple times a year. I wish i had one of those tumble type they are faster.

You can always direct compost like I used to do. I just buried my kitchen scraps around my plants, and they would decompose and feed them.

I have a simple cylinder of galvanized hardware cloth (@ least 3' across, fastened w/ wire) in a back corner of the yard & just throw everything in there - no turning or aerating, a.k.a. 'cold' composting. Once a year, I open the cylinder, move it to a new spot close by & pile in everything not decomposed, leaving the finished compost @ the bottom to be screened (or not) & used. I do water it every so often & add unprinted paper (egg cartons, paper toweling, packing paper) to supplement the 'browns'.

If you pile it, it will rot.

I am assuming you live in Hillsborough county. The UF/IFAS Extension has a composting workshop. The next one is on the 4th of March. I haven't been to one of their workshops yet but am planning to go.

When I lived out west I bought one from the county. It sat on the ground and you just dumped stuff in the top, gave it a stir with a hooked stick they included and replaced the lid. If it wasn't moist, just dump some water over it. Mine had a little door at the bittom to collect the finished compost. My only issue with it was that tree roots grew into it.

Currently my compost lives in a cardboard box. It looks terrible but it's temporary. My husband is building a compost bin for me. He used a wood pallot on the bottom, frames on three sides, it has mesh in the frames.

It does not need the sun to heat up. The process of composting will heat it up.

The only thing for which I need compost is my containerized tomatoes, and I guess I throw some into my herb pots. I made it as simple as possible: I started a trash can (poked holes through the bottom) with some potting soil to which I've added every scrap of veggie, fruit, tea bags, coffee grounds and ground up eggshells my kitchen produces, as well as an occasional bit of grass cuttings (and only very occasionally add dead leaves which I sprinkle with blood meal 'cause I read that it works to make the leaves decay quicker). When the can gets full (maybe 2 or 3 times a year) we dump it on the driveway, separate the bottom portion which is ripe for composting and return the remainder to the can to start the process all over again, then give the driveway a good hosing to return it to its normal condition. What it produces must be good enough, as my tomatoes respond well to its being mixed with the potting soil.

The way I do it is with a tumbler. It works with the limited amount of food scraps and coffee grounds I have. The tumbling seems to accelerate the composition process down to a couple of months. I just throw on whatever I have plus a few handful of leaves.

I don't have anywhere in my yard for a proper compost pile, so I bought a cheap plastic trash barrel and throw all the kitchen scraps in that, layered with wood chips. I turn it occasionally with a garden fork. It doesn't take long to break down. When it's half full, I empty it and spread it around the plants and top it off with more wood chips. I was concerned when I noticed grubs in the barrel were breaking down the scraps, but researched it discovered they are not the same as ones in the lawn that eat plant roots.