Compost is easy to make at home, and is a great soil conditioner for both indoor and outdoor gardening projects.

Want to start composting? It’s easy, and you can do it at home without any special tools or equipment in most cases. Save the classes, videos, books and composting experts for when you are ready to become a compost aficionado or if you want to get into specialized composting. Otherwise you will always be waiting to take that class or read that book when you could be composting already.

To get started, pick an out of the way place in the yard. A back corner, behind a shed, or next to the vegetable garden are popular choices, but it is up to you and what is acceptable in your neighborhood. Composting can happen in a pile on the ground or in some sort of bin or container. If simply making a pile is acceptable, you are ready to start once you pick the place.

If you need a bin or container for your compost, decide whether you want to build something or purchase a commercial bin. A bin can be as simple as a short piece of fencing set up with a couple of posts to make a small circle or square or as complicated as a multi-compartment bin with doors. Commercial bins also come in a range of styles and shapes, but they all perform about the same.

Serious gardeners should find or build as big a bin as possible (they fill quickly with leaves and plant debris), while composters who are simply looking for a way to recycle kitchen scraps can get by with a smaller bin.

Now that you have a place to compost, start collecting things to put in the pile or bin. The kitchen is a great place to start. Apple cores, potato peels, salad scraps, and other fruit and vegetable wastes are perfect for composting.

This is where composting starts to get complicated, though, as there are varying opinions about things such as eggshells, orange peels, and even tomatoes. Concerns are in the length of time an item takes to break down in the compost pile, how likely the items are to attract wildlife, and whether the items might affect the pH level of the compost.

In general, plant waste materials break down the most quickly and are the least likely to attract wildlife, although there may still be an occasional mouse or raccoon. Bread, pasta, meat, dairy and oils and fats can be more problematic and are best left out of a beginner compost bin.

Newspaper, coffee filters (and grounds) and paper towels can also be composted, but leave out waxy paper and magazines.

Plant material from the landscape and garden is also great for the compost pile. Skip diseased plants or weeds that have gone to seed to avoid transplanting them when you use the compost.

If you want to turn the compost pile over, do it a couple of times a year. You can also water the compost during dry periods to speed it along, but only if you want. You really can just put your compostable materials in a pile and forget them for a few months. When the plant material turns into black crumbly stuff that almost resembles fine soil, you have successfully mastered composting.

Finished compost is a great soil conditioner for any kind of garden. It can be used as a topdressing on lawns or as a mulch, or mixed with potting soil for indoor and container gardens.

— Jennifer Smith is a former horticulture extension agent for K-State Research and Extension and horticulturist for Lawrence Parks and Recreation. She is the host of “The Garden Show.” Send your gardening questions and feedback to features@ljworld.com.