My grandma always had a compost pile. We grandkids never knew exactly why she went to all the work of gathering a bunch of trash and dumping it in a bin in her backyard. She had her reasons, though, and while we didn't grasp them way back when, we understand her intentions now.

Successful gardening -- my grandma loved gardening -- starts with feeding with soil. The best way to nourish the soil comes from an unlikely but nutrient-rich source -- the home and yard.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reports that food scraps and yard trimmings account for about 25 percent of all the waste generated in the United States. Composting cuts down on this percentage. Just reuse and recycle the garbage you create right at home and you'll benefit the planet. And your garden too.

Here's how you can get started.

• Start in the Spring.
  
  

• Find some scraps and find a place to put them. Make a big pile in an out-of-the-way outdoor spot or buy bins to contain your compost and protect it from the elements.
  
  

• Grab a pitchfork or shovel so you can turn your pile and incorporate oxygen.
  
  

• Gather fruit and vegetable scraps, coffee grounds, tea bags, eggshells, shredded white paper, newspaper (nothing shiny, just newsprint), torn-up toilet paper, paper towel tubes, and plant and yard trimmings.
  
  

• Do not use meat, oil, and dairy products. They won't break down properly, will smell badly, and will attract pests. Avoid weeds too. They will only produce more weeds.
  
  

• Go heavier on "brown" materials -- leaves, straw, wood -- than the "green" items from your kitchen.
  
  

• Compost should be kept as moist as a wrung-out sponge.
  
  

• Compost is finished when it smells good, looks good, and feels like dark, rich, crumbly earth. Your original ingredients should be unrecognizable. If you do nothing but add scraps to your pile, it may take up to one year before you realize your final product. If you actively work your pile -- turning it, monitoring your green/brown ratio, checking on moisture -- then it could take as little as one month.
  
  

• When ready, sprinkle your compost on the soil surface. Then start planting.
  
  

• If your compost begins to stink, bury your kitchen scraps in the material from the yard.

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Here's a diet tip from Prevention Magazine. Don't do your dishes -- at least not right away. Let your dirty dishes pile up on the counter next to the sink. Why engage in such sloppy, uncouth behaviour, you ask? Well, it can help you moniter how much you're eating, and it can discourage you from dirtying yet another dish.

Ok, so this strategy might sound a bit bogus, but consider this -- researchers at Cornell University have confirmed that this works. They studied people at a chicken-wing buffet, and results showed that those who's plates were left to pile up next to them ate 28% less than those who had their empty plates removed.

So as long as you're not leaving them long enough to become a moldy health hazard, feel free to put off doing the dishes for a while!

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