Are veggie scraps topped with leaves good mulch?

I have heavy clay soil: rock hard in summer, but constantly moist in Autumn and winter. To improve it I'm hoping I can dump veggie scraps on the soil then top it with a mound of dried garden waste.

I've done it next to my lemon and apple tree so far. Now when I lift the mound a few weeks later I find worms, spiders and crickets right away. Hopefully they're loosening the soil naturally.

But will these mounds somehow rot the roots? Will they starve the trees of oxygen? Any other problems? They're about 1 foot from the trunk and about 1 foot high.

I don't use gypsum because I'm a cheapskate, and I'd rather use a system more closer to nature. I love just dumping waste on the ground, wetting it with a hose and letting nature take its course. I haven't had any trouble with vermin either.

Tim, you will get all kinds of different advice when it comes to composting.  There are many different methods taught by people.  For a long time, I thought that there was one main method, but then I began to see the flaw in that type of thinking.  Here is a great video on how composting is a bit different than we think.