I would just make a compost pile out in the open air. Using a plastic or metal one without turning it all week, spells rot and mold. Collect green matter (mowed grass)and brown matter(autumn leaves) in piles, and mix them/layer them together in a pile. Beware of the fresh cow/horse manure which has a ton of weed seeds in it. You want it to really cook hot in your pile. For this season, get some bags of organic compost and mix it into your garden.

I have the Compost Tumbler (big metal thing on legs) and it doesn't make completed compost. It needs daily turning or mold develops. What comes from it is lovely mulch which I use to place on top of the garden. Looks great and the nutrients make their way down.

Hope this helps.

I have several compost piles around, the one for vege waste is in a corner of the fenced garden. I use a circle of fencing to contain it. I move it around each year but let the squash volunteers grow first. Adding grass clippings is an great way to heat it up. I do minimal turning. If there are bear in your area it's not a good idea to compost at all but otherwise, it can be pretty simple. Cover with dirt to make it look 'neat'

corapegia- i'm intrigued. can you tell me about the one in the veg garden? i'm imagining something that sounds deliciously simple. do you have a hole, dump the scraps, cover with a layer of dirt and then a "final" layer at the end of the season. next year the fencing gets moved and you plant veggies (squash?) where last year's fencing used to be? if i used this method, could i make a giant hole that was just for grass clippings and leaves? i understand i'd need to add something for the brown/green mix but i have alot of spots in the yard where no grass grows b/c the soil is poor (rocks, roots, pine needles, rock salt etc.) if i could improve the soil for the next year, i wouldn't care about the holes this year.

susanzone5-thanks for the warning about the horse manure b/c i've had it sitting in a pile right outside the garden area, ready to be mixed in. i didn't think about the chance that i may be sowing weed seeds but now i'll keep a special eye out for them.
s.

tristate, My gardening is not exact and varies somewhat from year to year, depending on my mood. I don't dig a hole, just dump the peelings, eggshells, coffee grounds etc. (obviously no meat scaps) on the ground within a circle of fence. I also have a black plastic bin which is hard to describe but I got it orginally from Gardeners Supply, sold as a potato growing bin. (doesn't work for potatoes, gets too hot and dry, the company wrote me the year after I bought it to say, "use it for a compost bin")
It would be neater looking than the wire.
My piles accumulate for at least a year or maybe two before I move to a different part of the garden. The squash are volunteers from seeds thrown in the compost. When I find one growing I just leave the pile and the seedling where they are. The following spring I would level the compost or move it to a deserving bed. I have raised beds because I have heavy clay soil and it's a little low, the paths between the beds sometimes have standing water after heavy rain. I also have a lot of volunteers for salad early spring because I let a few things go to seed.. orach, arugula selvatica, mache, miner's lettuce, cilantro, mustard, cress. You just have to learn the seedlings so you don't pull them out.

I add the weeds I pull and grass clippings to cover the pile, and dirt if it gets smelly.

Mine is made of pallets nailed to corner posts. It's on a bank and is open at the bottom lower end. I dump in kitchen scraps (no meat, fat, bones, bread, etc), weeds (with dirt attached to roots), paper towels, paper bags (save scaps in double paper bags and just toss the whole thing in). Top off with weeds. The pile never gets higher and each spring I dig out the compost at the lower end. No turning, no sweat.
I do have a tumbler which was given me and if I have a lot of weeds to dispose of, they go in the tumbler. But it is hard to turn (keeps swinging back) and very slow in composting. Getting the lid off and on isn't easy either. I empty it out at the end of a year but it is more like mulch than compost.