Composting is so easy that anyone with a garden ought to try it. Nature does most of the work. Everything that is living will die, and when it's dead, its molecules have to be broken down into simpler molecules that can be used by new living things to grow, maintain and repair themselves, and reproduce. That's the life cycle.
Now is an excellent time to start composting. Compost is a good soil amendment that improves the structure of any mineral soil, from solid clay to pure sand. Most communities encourage composting because disposing of yard and kitchen waste is expensive; the tax money could be better used for something else. Composting is win-win. No gardener ever has enough compost, and if you're buying organic soil amendments like peat moss or manure, you'll save money.
If you have piles from last year, dig them out and use the compost when you are planting or as a top dressing on the vegetable garden or around trees and shrubs.
Start by choosing an area that is easily accessible but not too visible. This will be a working area, not necessarily a beauty spot. Compost piles can be freestanding or enclosed. The plastic bins provided at a low price by many towns are fine. Enclosures can be made with cinder blocks or wooden pallets. Or just start piling.
Compost piles are assembled over time, hours or months, depending on how much waste you have to deal with. They are put together in layers, like a Jell-O salad or that yummy taco dip with the refried beans, salsa and sour cream. Those from the Midwest may remember the salad that showed up at every dish-to-pass meal, consisting of chopped lettuce, celery, hardboiled eggs, frozen peas, green pepper, mayonnaise, sugar, grated cheddar and crumbled bacon. If you understand these recipes, you understand composting.
With compost, you alternate layers of "greens" and "browns." Greens are grass clippings, pulled weeds, green twigs with leaves, kitchen waste and most plant material that was alive recently. Greens are generally moist.
Browns are material that has been dead for a while. They are generally dry. Dead leaves, wood chips, bark, pine needles, sawdust, straw, spent flowers (deadheads), paper egg cartons, coffee grounds and filters, tea leaves, eggshells, paper plates, cups, towels and napkins, empty toilet paper rolls and dry sticks are a few possibilities.
Begin and finish the pile with a layer of browns. All these materials will break down faster if they are in small pieces. It's easy to throw a big piece back in if it hasn't broken down in time, however.
It helps to throw a shovelful of soil in every so often. That is a source of the decomposers, the organisms that break everything down.
Avoid adding grease, meat or dairy products to compost. They break down fine, but they smell and attract vermin. Don't add animal waste either, as it may contain parasites and bacteria that make people sick.