One thing is for sure -- the gardeners will not have far to go for bull---t.

Which brings me to composting. There have been concerns voiced about using manure from a horse (or bull) that has been wormed. Thanks to Janice Chumley, the integrated pest management technician with the Cooperative Extension office in Soldotna who cheerily answers all of my oddball questions. She sent me an article titled "Vermicomposting Horse Manure" which, among other things, addresses if red wiggler worms will die when they are composting manure that has been passed from a horse that has been medicated. No problem. Apparently 95 percent of the active chemicals are deactivated in the horse before being passed in the feces. The other 5 percent are deactivated by sunlight.

Any manure that goes into my vegetable garden is composted first. If nothing else, it makes it easier to work with. Fresh manure is nasty stuff, although my source bags her animals' manure so a bag or two will fit into a Subaru. We (that would be my nongardening spouse, John, there really is no "we" when it comes to loading the truck with manure. My excuse is that I am afraid of the dog that lives with the horses. Any excuse will do.) gather up a couple of truck loads of manure in the fall or winter, trundle it out to the garden and make a rather huge pile of it where it begins to break down into a workable substance. You can do this.

The vegetable plot does not ever get fresh manure. It may get manure tea, which is just a shovelful of manure in a bucket with water added to the top, left to sit for a few days and then used to water the seedlings. What is left in the bottom of the bucket goes to perennials or into the compost pile.

At some point you will start mowing your chemically untreated lawn. For the most part you will want to leave the clippings on the grass because that is what feeds your lawn. Yes, the clippings will feed your grass. Those of you who bag all of the clippings each and every time that you mow and then apply fertilizer are wasting time and money. Give that some thought.

To make your compost pile:

* Take the grass clippings, say two wheelbarrows full, and start to layer them about four inches or so thick.

* Add a few shovelfuls of manure, some shredded raspberry canes and kitchen scraps -- minus any meat -- and more grass.

* Keep the layers going -- grass, manure, shredded raspberry canes and kitchen scraps. A shovel of dirt added here and there helps things along too.

An optimal size for a compost pile is three feet wide and tall. That really isn't asking all that much of you.

I make about a million of these piles as the season progresses. Once the first one is made, I turn it over with a sturdy fork right next to where it was. It goes from point A to point B. At this point, the pile will no longer be layered. You are mixing it up, adding air, which will speed the decomposition process.

I happen to have a lovely compost bin that you do not need. Mine is made from rough-cut lumber and is three compartments with the three-foot requirements. The first compartment is where the first pile starts, then in about three days it gets turned into the second. In another three days it's turned back into the first bin. This goes back and forth until the pile is no longer hot. Then it goes into Bin Three where it just piles up and continues to break down.

When the pile makes it to compartment three, then I can start to make a fresh pile. And the process continues all summer long. It keeps getting better as the garden produces waste and that gets chopped up with a machete and added to the pile. The smaller you get your ingredients, the faster they will break down and make usable compost.

At some point in the growing season I will take the finished compost from Bin Three and spread it over the surface of the raised beds. This is called top dressing. I will work the compost into the soil if I have time, or just let it lay there. Watering and/or rain will work it into the soil. In the fall all that is left in Bin Three gets spread over the entire vegetable plot. If I had a very good year making compost, I will save some for the perennial beds.

Every year I write the "how to make compost" column and yet it is the most often asked question that comes up. Every year I try to explain it. I want you to make compost. It isn't hard. Composting has been going on for centuries. This is how people all over the world garden. You do not need any special equipment, but you do need to feed the soil. That is what composting is all about. Happy soil makes happy plants.

A compost pile that is hot and turned every few days does not smell foul. It actually smells good. By the end of a week you cannot identify the materials.

Get out a measuring tape -- a 36-inch square is not daunting.

I hope this column has answered your questions and not created new ones. I started composting by doing it. There is only so much to be read. At some point you need to get to work and make things happen. This is your year for a vegetable garden.

Just think of the White House gardeners -- an organic vegetable garden to produce enough fresh produce for state dinners and two beehives. And they thought their careers were all roses.

Rosemary Fitzpatrick has been gardening with gusto in Homer for 30 years. This year marks the 19th anniversary of her column.