COMPOST KEEPS PILING UP Compost is the key to a successful garden. Whether you have decent top soil, nasty clay or sand, compost is the best way to enrich and maintain your garden soil. Composting is basically the process of mixing carbon (like fallen leaves), and nitrogen (such as green lawn clippings) at the proper ratio, building a large enough pile, then monitoring moisture and temperature levels. While large-scale composting is something of an art, starting out is easy enough. Simply collect yard wastes such as fallen leaves, grass clippings, weeds and garden plant remains. You can also collect kitchen scraps such as vegetable leftovers, egg shells and coffee grounds. Do NOT include meat, bones or fatty foods such as cheese, salad dressing and cooking oil. To compost outdoors in your yard, combine all these items in a well-ventilated composting bin. Water and turn them over with a pitchfork regularly. If you live in an apartment or town-home with limited space, you can still compost by keeping a worm bin under your kitchen sink. For fast, thorough decomposition, and a rich finished product, add hungry redworms to your compost pile! Redworms digest raw organic material and produce their weight in castings every day. They even work in an indoor composting box, turning kitchen scraps into compost. From: Teale765@aol.com