Here's my growing compost pile. Notice the the left side is quite a bit darker than the right. It's about 3 1/2 weeks old now. The other side has only been there a couple of days. I've been turning the pile once a week -we'll see how long that lasts! Actually, I'm finding this task more enjoyable than I thought. There's something satisfying about turning that pile and then going back each week to find it getting blacker and blacker. The pile is a mixture of leaves from Tony and Lydia's garden, grass clippings, and kitchen waste. I also added some bone meal. Everything I've read so far says that you should let your leaves decompose by themselves because they take much longer to break down. I've got a good 4 -5 months to let this cook so we'll see... I think its' doing pretty well even in this short of time.