How to start composting?

Yes you can compost with just a pile in the corner of the yard. The more you turn your pile the faster it will decompose. Turning every other day or three days is best. You don't want to put unfinished compost in your garden. If you can still tell what was in the compost (an apple, banana peel, etc...) it is not finished. In order to break up clay soil, you need lots of compost and organic matter. No matter what anyone tells you, DO NOT add sand to your clay. Sand and clay make concrete. If you have access to high quality compost it is better to use that. It will take you years to compost enough to amend clay soil. I have built a two bin compost system in my yard. One bin will hold a cubic yard of horse manure in sawdust. It takes a full year for the manure to break down. I turn the manure into the empty bin every couple of days or so. Then I turn it back again. Even with the amount of manure I get, when it's finished, I only get maybe a half a yard of compost. I have a compost supplier near me that composts cow manure. I can pick up a trailer full for $30 or so. It's a lot cheaper than buying bags.

Keep it simple to start with. Choose about a 2 ft square space in your garden. As you get veggie scraps, just use your hand trowel to bury them about 3" deep. Make sure they are covered with soil. Each time you bury your scraps, use a different part of the 2 ft square. Things start to break down in about 3 or 4 days, so you just keep re-using the spots for new scraps. Then, start another 2 ft square in another section. When the first square is completely decomposed, spread it over the clay soil and turn it in with your shovel. Keep repeating the process, using both 2 ft squares. Within a few weeks, you will have great soil to plant your garden. In the fall, turn in your mulched up leaves for additional composting over the winter.

Making your own compost is a worthwhile endeavor; however...it will take a long time (several years unless you're composting large amounts of tree leaves...grass clipppings...kitchen scraps) to make enough to amend your clay soil. It's more better to buy some compost / dried manure in the beginning and add your own over time. As for a bin; save your money and just make a pile. Turn it every so often and you're good to go. Once the pile has decomposed...broadcast the compost in the garden in the spring when you're preparing the soil or side-dress plants during the growing season.

You can just make a pile if on-the-ground composting is allowed in your town. Here is how. http://www.motherearthnews.com/Organic-Gardening/2006-10-01/Compost-Made-Easy.aspx?page=5#SASCPOWB In my town, we have to keep it in bins. I have 2 of the plastic bins that are shaped like big bullets. For 6 months, we fill one bin while the other is cooking. We put in all of our vegetable scraps, eggshells, small bits of leftover cooked fish, dryer lint, brown paper bags, shredded paper, my Halloween pumpkins, and garden clippings. We spin both bins every 3 days for 5 spins, except in the coldest part of winter. At the end of 6 months, I dump out the bin that has been cooking all that time, and make a little pile on the ground in a secluded corner of the yard. It will be greasy and black. A few corn cobs, pumpkin stems and cranberries will still be recognizable. Under the pile I have a piece of quarter inch mesh. This is so worms and bugs can crawl up in, but pesky tree roots won't be able to. Then I cover the pile with a tarp or a very large lid that came with my trash can. Then I put heavy rocks on top so the cover won't blow off. Now I have one empty bin and one full bin. The full bin becomes the cooking one, and we start filling the empty bin. In another 6 months, un-cover the pile on the ground and use it. Dump out your cooking bin, pile it onto the ground, and so on. .

http://dbellamy.customer.netspace.net.au/bog/compost/compost1.html You really need to have it enclosed partly.I saw one gardener using old wooden palletes to make his,just join them at the corners to keep the compost all together.