nutNhoney wrote in message ...
We haven't composted for quite some time so I bought a truck load for
the reased beds. I have a couple of questions. Is too much compost a
bad thing? I mean, can I use too much compost for the raised beds?

It depends. For squash, no. For beets, yes. Different plants like (or
tolerate) different amounts. Buy a sampler packet of everything the
first year, and figure out what likes what. Even if the first year the
compost is too strong for the beets, next year it will be mellower,
and in no more than two years it should be perfect (if you add no
fresh compost).

I
would like to start composting again. When we composted we had a
special black bin thing. Could I set up a a compost pile without the
special bin? If so, how difficult to maintain would this set up be? TIA

It depends. If you have a corner behind the garage that you don't use,
you could let stuff sit there until it rots (the only problem being
that the seeds in the compost will not cook, as it will be composting
slowly).
If you want a relatively fast compost, either you buy the thing that
turns, or break your back turning it with a fork, or make compost with
lots of kitchen scraps, which tends to go very fast (and produce a
fairly hot pile).