The leaves have dropped from the trees, the summer vegetable and flower gardens are finished, and Mother Nature is providing an abundance of organic matter for you to make into compost. Even if you live in an area where you've planted fall gardens for a winter and early spring harvest, this is still the time to make compost. Making compost is one of those "feel good" fall activities. You feel good about cleaning up the yard and making something as valuable for your garden as compost ... for free! Gardens receive many benefits from annual additions of compost. Compost helps sandy soil retain water, helps clay soil drain better, makes nutrients more available to plants, and supports soil microbial activity that defends your plants against disease.

Starting a compost pile is as easy as following a cooking recipe. Just get the right ingredients together, mix them well, and let it cook. In a matter of months you'll have finished "black gold" to mix into the soil of your flower, herb and vegetable gardens.

Compost is decomposed or well-rotted organic material. It can be made from a variety of organic materials, such as vegetable waste, leaves, grass clippings and animal manures. Making compost is very simple. Think of it as making a lasagna. Alternate layers of brown (high in carbon) ingredients and green (high in nitrogen) ingredients -- adding some water between each layer -- until you fill the container. Then let it cook until done.

Materials To Use

· Brown plant materials, such as leaves, old grass clippings, shredded paper, peat moss, hay and straw.

· Green plant materials, such as fresh grass clippings; vegetable kitchen wastes (including coffee grounds and egg shells); yard waste (weeds, small twigs); disease-free vegetable plants; and cow, horse or chicken manure. If you are low on green materials, you also can use high-nitrogen organic fertilizers, such as blood meal and cottonseed meal.

Materials To Avoid

· Items that should be kept out of compost include meat and bones, large amounts of wood chips or sawdust, pet manure, herbicide-treated grass clippings, perennial and seed-bearing weeds, diseased plants and, of course, anything metallic or plastic.