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That would depend on how dry the gully stays---if the water rushes through there when it rains, your compost will be washed away.
You really don't have to have an enclosure at all. Just pick a spot that is convenient and start piling up your layers. Leave them alone, except to add water if it gets really dry. When you can stick a garden fork or shovel in there, and it steams, you can turn the pile, or let it cook a while longer. As long as there is heat in the pile, you can turn it whenever it is convenient for you---just give it a while to heat up again before you turn it again.
We used to have huge compost piles when we were kids, several feet tall. By the time everything was well broken down, they were very small, maybe a third of their original height.
If you really want to enclose it, you can just lay out strawbales on the ground to make an enclosure. The nice thing about doing it this way is that the straw will eventually---2 or 3 years later--just get added to the pile, too.

Don't really need an enclosure, unless you're concerned about animals digging in it. Chickens love to scratch in a compost pile, not altogether a bad thing, but they can make a terrible mess of things. Then you just have to pile it all up again, so it will get hot. Raccoons and oppossums would probably dig through compost, too---but here, they'd rather go after the chickens!

I also have a couple of questions.

Is it worth it to buy an actual compost bin or can I do with a make shift sort of bin?

Also, is there a big difference between composting and worm composting? Or doing one or the other is just preference?



And I don't know about everyone else, but on my county's website I found wonderful information on composting, composting classes and a discount on composting bins. And through more searching the site, I found a discount on rain barrels, native gardening and so much more. Surprising where you can find helpful info sometimes! 3nodding

You gotta let the heat build up so only turn it when it's really hot and steamy. I know plenty of people who don't turn the compost at all, and just let it decay at its own pace.

I do most of my composting in my basement. It's pretty easy to do, so you don't have to worry too much about doing it "by the book" or "doing it wrong."

And you don't need to buy one of those $80+ bins or any fancy enclosure. I currently use three large garbage cans in the basement and one bucket under the kitchen sink for composting. Although I'm outgrowing them and might need to get another garbage can or two. I use red worms, so it's sort of like having a pet. xp

I mix it up a little if there's something stinky on top, if the dirt is getting packed down really hard, or if I want some dirt for a plant. Other than that I pretty much let it be.

I add water sometimes. It depends on how dry the dirt is, which depends on how wet the scraps are that I add. I compost kitchen scraps, newspaper from the rabbit cage, and lawn/garden scraps. It's surprisingly not stinky as long as there aren't so many scraps in there that the worms can't handle it or as long as it doesn't get too soupy. Just smells earthy.

If you have a nice spot to do it outside though, that's even better and even less maintenance. I'm jealous of your gully! How's it working out?

I have a pile....of leaves and whatnot behind a shed, of mine. It's there because of my mother's laziness to bag leaves and it's been there for almost a year and a half now. I just went back there to clean up the empty space from the weeds and leaves that I'm planning on making a vegetable garden next year. I moved lots of leaves, and I found a few interesting things there. For one thing, more blasted holes were the little voles are sneaking into. D:

But to my joy, I found a handful of fat worms back there at the bottom of the leaf pile, they wiggle so fast and vigorously, I never saw worms move that fast before, it was so fun to watch! ^w^

There are a lot of creepy crawlies in that pile. I'm hoping to clean that corner up and make it an 'official' compost pile rather than a free standing one that you can see peeping out from behind the shed. :/ That and get rid of some of the old woody plant stems there, every time I snap a branch for some Vine work, there's a grub of some kind boring into it. I don't know if it's a good thing or not.

Any one know if this fat white grub in these old stems bad?

Anyway, you don't need a fancy holder. If you want it to be in a certain area it sounds like that ditch of your' is good. You should fill it in a bit so you don't get stuck in the ditch. ^^U

That sounds reall interesting. I've just started mine, but I have a question. Other than bugs, does composting tend to attract any othe critters? I have a garden in clost vicinity to it, so I would assume that there wouldn't be any more than would already be attracted by my grapes or tomatoes, but my dad is worried that it will attract larger critters to my yard. What do you think?