Tell me how to turn my leaves into gold

I have an abundance of leaves from my Oak and Maple tree's, however....I've still not started a compost pile,right now the leaves are between the garage and the privacy fence --- totally shaded, I think I know how to start one but I dont know how to make the contained area to throw the leaves into.......I have a small area in the sun, I'm guessing its 3 ft one way and about 10 ft long --- I dont kow anything about using a saw, what about just buying some cheap fencing but sturdy enough to bend it into a 3 ft X 10 ft shape? Any idea's? I need easy and cheap idea's, I'm tired of missing out on the gardeners gold.

Thanks, Jill

Okay, with what you've got you could just "make" leaf mold, which is a lovely crumbly composty material for the garden. Just take a length of chicken wire, and make a cylinder maybe 3 ft in diameter. Stuff the leaves in. Stick a stake or two in to hold things down.Forget about it. Takes about a year.

Otherwise, shred them and spread them on the garden as a winter "blanket" that will help feed the soil and suppress weeds, or incorporate them into your pile. See the recent thread "Wood used for compost bin" to see how to make a compost bin out of wood pallets you can get free some places. I posted a link there. Oh, heck. Here it is: http://digitalseed.com/composter/bins/palletbin.html

Thanks Zeppy! I'll bet I can snag some freebie pallets somewhere, great idea!