You don't need anything fancy or expensive to start composting. All you have to do is designate a spot in your yard to let nature do its thing with vegetable matter. As always, don't put any bread, milk-products or meat into your composter. It will smell horribly, not compost very well, attract disease and pests... and just generally make your life difficult. Egg shells are one exception to this rule. I rinse them out and then crush them flat before I put them into the compost container.
The most basic way is a pile. Just a pile. You can hem it in with some sort of fence, but that can be made out of a cylinder of chicken wire, old pallets, or just a pile. People tend to put compost into vertical containers to save space and restrict access for wild animals. Container composting is the most popular for those of us who don't live on a farm or have a large amount of yard. However, in vertical containers there is also restricted air flow, so they need to be turned more often to maintain a good mix of oxygen-dependent bacteria.
The fancy word for this is aerobic. They thrive in oxygen-rich environments, and make your dirt good for for your garden. The other kind, anaerobic (surviving in oxygen-poor environments), aren't as good for plant growth and development, and will take time to clear out once added to your garden so the good kind can move back in. So, in this instance, cheap and lazy isn't a bad thing. Piles are messy, but they work.
If you have lots of garden space another good way is trench-composting. It works quite quickly, but that patch of soil will be 'in production' until the composting process is done. Basically, you dig a trench in the ground, or your garden, fill it with compost, cover it with dirt... and leave it until it's done. Easy-peasy.
Unless you can keep your compost temperature at 65 C or above for a week (and that's 150 F for the folks down south) don't put invasive weed species into your compost pile. Or, put it in a composter that you can leave for about three years so the seeds will never have a chance to germinate. Yes, some seeds will live that long until they have proper growing conditions... like your nice, fertile garden.
With high-temperature composting you can theoretically put all sorts of things into your composter (like bread, milk-products and meat) because the possibility of disease is greatly decreased. However. It also takes a lot of thought and management. Certainly much more than I'm willing to put into it. Plus, I don't want to deal with rats and raccoons discovering the treasure trove in my backyard. I'm highly thankful for the green bin program in my community.
The magical elements to all good composting are oxygen, moisture and heat. If you have the right amounts of the first two, then the third will happen naturally. We've already covered why oxygen is important for the type of bacteria. However, if your compost pile is too dry then bacteria can't grow. The same applies to if it's too wet. Heat is a by-product of happy bacteria munching away on the vegetable matter. I live in Canada, and in the middle of winter my composter freezes through completely because there isn't enough mass to keep it going. Large piles of manure will continue to steam through the winter, but not much else will. The bacteria sleep until spring, when they start up doing their thing again.
Next in importance is a good balance between 'green' and 'brown' materials. The 'brown' are things like dried-out leaves, grass, or straw. It's a good idea to put in the occasional layer of brown to absorb the excess moisture from the green materials decomposing, also it's crispy and lets some more air flow through before it breaks down. I could go into the fancy stuff about the balance of carbon and nitrogen... But, basically, just make your composter into a dirt-making lasagne, where the brown materials are like the meat layers. Some people store dry leaves from the fall in garbage bags and just add them as needed, others buy bales of straw (I can get a square bale for $2). Don't use hay unless you're planning on leaving the composter to sit for a few years, as it's full of seeds. That's the same problem you get when you use hay as a mulch.
Some people add shredded paper, but that has to be very sparingly done. It's not really a 'brown', or a green. Also, don't put feces from dogs or cats in there. They eat meat, and you'll get the same problems with disease (e. coli *love* meat, and then they end up in your garden and on your veggies... not good). However, rabbit pellets are AMAZING for your composter. If you have a rabbit that's garden gold. Just clean their cage directly into the composter- sawdust, newspaper and all. Chicken manure needs to go into a compost pile for three years if it's raw, as well as horse manure. If you buy it pre-composted, then it can go straight onto your garden, or be added as a 'brown' in small quantities to help with bacteria growth in your composter.
It's really not hard. Nature knows how to do this, and doesn't really need your help. Just make sure the conditions are good and your friendly neighbourhood bacteria will do the rest.
Resources:
Compost Myths and Facts- Mother Earth News
Composting With Worms - Indoor composting! I've never actually tried this...
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