Compost is perhaps nature’s most valuable soil amendment. Homeowners know lots of money and time poured into our garden yields beautiful results and a bountiful harvest. If you compost your kitchen and yard refuse, you’ll be saving some of that hard-earned cash, and as an added bonus, all of that refuse will not be going into the local landfill. Compost will enrich your soil and give your plants the added benefits of natural nutrients.

My mother was an organic gardener. To this day, I’ve never seen anything that could top her garden. Her flowers were always bigger, brighter and more profuse. Her vegetables and fruits were always at the peak of freshness, healthy and robust.

Of course, we had 90 acres of ranch land and had cattle in the back 89 in the summer. It was left undisturbed as oak woodland and grassland. The acre where our house sat contained a pool, a small orchard and a large, single-family vegetable garden that produced year ‘round. My mother composted everything. Since she did not use herbicides or pesticides, she washed everything before she peeled it, leaving the peels relatively free of toxic substances before tossing them into the compost bin. She wanted to keep everything as natural as possible in her borderline urban-rural garden.

The best news is that a compost pile doesn’t take much tending. Nature takes care of it herself. You’re the gifted recipient of her labor.

You will need to start with a container of some sort. You can go off and buy a fancy, expensive tumbler or container, or you can easily make your own. Basically what you need is a four-sided container that will breathe, yet retain heat and moisture. I’ve used four wooden pallets in the past, set on their ends to make a box. Three sides were secured together and the fourth side was wired on at the top so it was easily removable to turn the compost or to shovel it out and use in the garden.

If you work full time and don’t think you have the time to turn your compost, think about purchasing a compost tumbler, which can be found at most garden or hardware stores. It’s easy to toss in your garden and kitchen waste and periodically tumble it in this device. It’s the urban gardener’s quick and easy answer to a better garden.

Once you have your container, you need to fill it. It is recommended that you do not use things like meat scraps, spoiled milk and fish in the compost bin. These things can attract unwanted pests such as rats and mice, and this will defeat the purpose of having a nice, healthy garden.

So what do you use? If you’re using the simple pallet method, start by putting small branches and trimmings on the bottom. This will help with the air flow in the bin. You should alternate dry and green materials such as grass trimmings (green) and dry leaves (brown) to balance the moisture in the bin. Then, throw in a couple of shovelfuls of garden soil, which will contain the bacteria needed to get your compost cooking. If you want to spend a little money, there are compost activators on the market.

You will need to turn your compost pile with a shovel or pitchfork every week or so to keep it aerated.

Don’t let the pile dry out. Remember that the compost pile is like a living organism. You will need to spray it in dry weather periodically to keep the process working. It is also recommended that you purchase a compost thermometer. To keep your compost healthy, it is suggested that the temperature be maintained at 105 degrees.

Compost tumbler.

Soon you will see that mixing up your materials give you the best compost. Don’t rely on one source such as your grass clippings. A combination of textures in your pile will increase aeration and hurry the process along.

For a little investment in time, you will grow healthier, disease- and pest-resistant plants that are bigger and more productive than plants raised with artificial fertilizers and herbicides. And since fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides are systemic, you will be eating healthier without them because your garden vegetables won’t have toxic residue in their cellular structures.

It’s worth the little bit of effort. Lift your glass in a toast to a healthier ecosystem and a healthier you.

Dianne Erskine-Hellrigel is executive director of the Community Hiking Club and president of the Santa Clara River Watershed Conservancy. If you’d like to be part of the solution, join the Community Hiking Club’s Stewardship Committee. Contact Dianne through communityhikingclub.org or at zuliebear@aol.com.