I started composting many years ago simply to stop our family food waste going into landfill. We just chucked food waste into an plastic compost bin. When it got smelly, I would riped up cardboard and pile it on top. I didn't have a plan to use it in our garden but when we moved the compost bin, an apricot seed germinated and now has grown to a tree larger than myself! Also we have got butternut pumpkins out of seeds that have germinated from our compost pile. I manage my compost a little better now, but getting started was very easy and you learn what to do with it along the way