If you live in the desert as I do, you certainly need to find ways to add nutrients to your soil. Whether you have a garden to tend to or simply need to maintain your lawn, shrubs or even potted plants, composting may be just what you need. Here are some things to know to help you to get started.

You may choose to carefully maintain compost in a bin made and sold for that purpose or simply have a freestanding pile. Either way, location is important. Besides the smell, which can be minimized, your compost is likely to draw bugs. Limit a freestanding pile to 3 cubic feet. Remember, too, that the sun can dry out your pile so you'll have to water it more.

Because bacteria breaks down more readily when an ideal balance of carbon and nitrogen is reached, use a mix of h half waster from your yard and half from your home.

Most of everything leftover in your yard after maintenance is fine form composting. However, cut them up to speed up the decomposition process. Leaves and grass are great, but steer clear of plants with thorns, as these take longer to break down.

From your home, the best place to collect is in the kitchen. Coffee grounds, bread, fruit and vegetable peelings are excellent. These things tend to stink and make the process unappealing.

Shredded paper, from newspaper to coffee filters and tea bags-provide nice filler. When it comes to manure, use only cow, horse, and chicken manure, never that of any meat-eating animals (your dog has to sit out of this project).

Although your pile will eventually decompose if left alone, mixing and watering will speed up the process. Keep the pieces in your pile small and turn them often (a pitchfork will be helpful here). Layers of a couple inches of yard and kitchen waste will maintain the balance you need. Add water if you need to do so, but you don't want to soak it. You may need to add more yard waste rich in carbon to eliminate any stench.

You'll be at it for a few months, but eventually the garbage you've been working with will become black and nutrient rich - "soil" that you'll need.