Have you seen those barrel shaped compost bins that promise perfect compost in thirty days? I’m sure they work, and work well, when you follow their examples perfectly, including turning the drum every single day.

Who has time to mess with that?

You can create compost easily with a quick hole dug in your garden or flower bed or even a very simple compost pile. Composting at home enhances the fertility and productivity of your soil.

My parents have the best garden soil in the world. Well, ok, so I’m a little biased. Once a long long time ago, Dad hauled in manure from the old homestead for the garden and tilled it in. Ever since that time, at the end of each day, they’d carry out the vegetable peelings and discards to the garden, take a shovel, dig a small hole and shovel it in. Next day, he’d do the same thing, only in a slightly different spot. Then at the end of the growing season he’d retill. Their dirt is wonderful and rich and they can grow most anything.

You can use this same easy “hole” method or you can create your own compost pile out in your backyard. Most anything can be used to create a compost bin. All you need is a container. Old wood pallets, pieces of old garage doors, welded wire panels; even chicken wire can all be shaped into a rough bin of sorts.

Toss in your daily vegetable and fruit trimmings, coffee grounds, grass clippings and leaves from the yard. Aim for a mixture of 60% brown matter and the balance in green matter (the kitchen residue). Brown matter is leaves twigs and small branches, even pine cones. Water every once in a while. True compost aficionados will turn the mixture every so often with a pitch fork to add oxygen but it’s not really necessary. Matter left in the pile, watered occasionally and left generally unattended will turn into rich dark compost on it’s own within a year.

Because of the time factor involved, many people keep more than one compost pile going at a time. The bountiful yield of free brown gold will keep the plants in your garden happy and save you money by making your own gardener’s gold.