[LearsFool]

Some people trench-compost: Dig a trench, dump in the kitchen scraps, cover with dirt, plant there in the spring.

Some critters might have a good enough nose to smell out and dig up your underground compost, I suppose. But it might be worth a try.

[trisham]

That's a good idea, but our soil is like cement. All of our gardening is done on raised beds. I may have to break down and spend some serious money on something that I can keep in the yard. The worm composting method sounds interesting, but we have so much material I'm not sure that it would make sense. We eat a lot of shellfish, which I love to compost. The Mastiff next door loves it, too. :)

We do compost yard waste, but don't use it on our gardens. We have three areas where we just throw weeds, branches, small trees, leaves and so on. This compost is not accessible, however, since this is a very hilly piece of land. We leave as much of the grass as we can on the lawn, but if it's too heavy, it has to be raked. I'd like to gravel in the entire back yard.