I have about three years of experience composting the last thing most people think to compost, using Jenkins' method pretty closely. (Except for getting the contents of the buckets into the compost bin, there's very little to object to.) Combined with the output of a tiny flock of urban ducks and a lot of coffee grounds from the local caffeine pushers, I've turned out about a dozen cubic yards of compost. It ain't hard.

Using Jenkins' method, sawdust is great for use in the bucket, but dried and crushed leaves, shredded paper, or chopped straw work nearly as well. After a few days of sun, it is relatively easy to gather leaves and bust them up on a parking pad or piece of plywood, in a big bucket, with a (reel) lawnmower, or even by hand. Chopping straw isn't easy to do without a hammer-mill. If your yard gets covered with leaves each fall, they're probably the best option.

Whatever your cover material, moisture is the key. Dry cover material yields stink and a strained marriage. Moist (as opposed to wet) cover material is amazingly effective at eliminating any objectionable odours.

Grass clippings, at least the ones from your average North American lawn, don't work well in the bucket or in the compost bin. Even on their own, they contain too much nitrogen and, without careful management, will make for some pretty strong ammonia fumes around the compost bin. My conclusion has been that grass clippings are best left where they fall while mowing.