some people can manage to make anything difficult

Somebody needs to learn how to make a website easy to read if they want me to read it. I looked at it and noticed that the home page said it was best viewed in IE. That was a lie. It was hard to read using IE, also.

Since I couldn't stand to read the article, I don't know why the author considers composting ugly. I've never had a problem with it.

Quote from the link - "My preference is what is sometimes called sheet composting. This is simply using a rototiller or pitchfork to mix the materials that would go into a compost pile directly into the soil."

I'd agree that sheet composting garden waste is easier than composting - just chuck it where it lands 'chop and drop' style. Dunno why he thinks that you have to till it into the soil though, seems to be defeating half the object of sheet comosting...

I'm moving towards 'mulching' any garden waste and composting domestic waste.

A difficult to read article that is written by, as best I can tell since I could not read all of it, someone that really does not quite understand what the process is. I did see some misinformation and misunderstanding of the process.
Tilling material into the soil is not, necessarily, the best way to get it there since there are things that happen in a compost pile that will not happen when the same material is tilled into the soil that makes the compost much better.

I read most of the article, and he says the same things we all say. I know a pile is best at 3 x 3, kept moist but not soaking, and turned every week. I know that involves a bit of work.

He doesn't consider the value of beneficial bacterial populations in compost, or that composting handles the garden refuse more quickly and allows the addition of all our kitchen scraps, or that composting hot will kill the weed seeds.

He doesn't consider that keeping a tiller maintained, gassed up, and tilling is also lots of work and destroys soil structure to boot.

In the meantime, you still have all that refuse lying around or in a pile, right?

If composting is as difficult as claimed in this article, clearly, I must be a genius, because I am able to make compost successfully with very little effort. Or, maybe I was born with a large endowment of perpetual good luck? Our pile is never turned, so there is very little effort involved. Somehow, the air gets inside, where it needs to be, and the microbes do their thing.

This is my first year with building a compost pile. In the past I've been primarily a sheet mulcher, trench/hole composter and sometimes just using the blender for food scraps. I would have to agree with the article that mulching is a whole lot easier than pile composting. I imagine next year I'll be able to get by with less work on the pile. This year has definitely been a learning experience.

Composting is the easiest thing in gardening... pile it up, leave it alone, it becomes compost. Don't make it complicated unless you're in a hurry. Then you can tend and water it and turn it and have compost in a few weeks. But you've given it time and energy that might be better spent elsewhere. Patience is a gardener's friend. Articles such as the one linked to in the post make beginning gardeners think composting is hard. It isn't.

Sandy

And there is evidence (I've read) that passively made compost has better disease suppression qualities than actively made compost. It isn't true that turning your compost makes better compost. Active composting makes compost faster and it kills weed seeds better, but I think my time and energy are better spent gathering feedstock, than turning my piles.

And, of course, as a mulcher, I don't have to worry about weed seeds surviving my composting.

Weeds are more greens for the compost pile!