For awhile I lived in the country and just chucked kitchen scraps in a pile in the back yard…I didn’t do much else other than add any leafy or grassy clippings I ‘d scavenge. I would sometimes put a shovelful of soil over it if company came over so it wouldn’t look so scrappy with egg shells and half lemons glaring at you. Even that somewhat neglectful form of composting made some mega soil with some monster earthworms. It was before I learned about all the technical aspects of composting and my garden had the best growth ever.
If you are persistent, you can make soil. One of my neighbors would shred newspaper in his pile, saying it added carbon. He also got everyone’s bagged leaves, shredded them and added that to his compost. He is from another country and could not believe people would throw out such a valuable soil additive! He built up his yard and gardens by a foot over 3 years.
An excellent free way to compost is to layer grass clippings with fall leaves that you’ve run over with the lawnmower so that they are shredded. Build the pile as high as you like, alternating layers. If you have access to manure from animals, layer that in too. Fall leaves contain micronutrients and trace elements that have been brought up in the tree from way down deep in the earth. They are truly golden for your garden.
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