Hi Joseph,
Unless you enjoy raking, an easier way is to use your lawn mower to do
a final cut of your lawn, using a bag to catch the leaves and grass.
This
has the advantage of chopping up the leaves and mixing them with the
grass, all at the same time. If you have time next year, I would
recommend this technique with the addition of watering down the layers,
so that the pile is nice and moist (this speeds up the decomposition
process). Another helper would be to sprinkle some fertilizer (I use
10-10-10) in alternating layers. I would not recommend using your
bagger
repeatedly, on different occasions, as that would remove too much energy
from the lawn.

Sherwin Dubren

Joseph O'Brien wrote:

I've been itching to start a garden for a few months now. I tried to
curb my appetite by reading books and websites, but I just couldn't
stand it any longer! So, today, I built a compost pile out of wooden
pallets and spent a beautiful fall day raking leaves. Funny to think
that my first step towards growing food is to hasten the decay of it.

Unfortunately, it's not a very proper compost pile. I've read about
putting down layers of green and brown, mixing in compost starters,
cutting it all up into little bits, but I just don't have the time or
resources to do that. So, I just dumped everything in, mixed it up,
and will hope for the best.

What should I expect from this kind of setup in the spring? I plan on
emtpying table scraps throughout the winter and giving it a good stir
every week. Would you have any other recommendations?

I can't wait for spring!

thanks,
joseph