Making your own compost out of your clippings from your yard and garden is the right thing to do,  You can simply throw all of the clippings into a pile in the corner of your yard, or you can invest in a manufactured composter.  When considering which to do, consider price, amount of maintenance required, time it takes, and convenience,  The reward for you will be a constant, ready supply of conditioner for your soil that you would otherwise have to go to a store and purchase.  Your soil will enjoy improved texture and will retain water better.  Plus, your soil will be full of all of the nutrients that it needs to grow beautiful plants and delicious vegetables.

As you can see in the first photograph below, you can have a very nice and tidy-looking bin for hot compost. Simply lift up the lid and turn the compost with a pitchfork, Materials compost very quickly and because of the space between the slats that allows the compost to breathe, there is little to no odor. (Make sure, however, if you build your own to make the holes and spaces small enough to keep rodents from crawling through. A lid will help keep them out as well).

Most diseases and weed seeds are destroyed by the heat that is generated in the compost, but this method does require a lot of work, so consider that before you decide to build (or buy) one.

 When you turn the barrel, the compost is turned just as if you were turning it using a pitchfork,  This is also a very fast composter and most are completely enclosed with small vents, which keeps moisture in, but animals out.

To empty this type of composter, simply push a wheelbarrow up under it.  The more compost inside, the harder these type units are to turn.