Compost Zodiac

The Alchemist

Profile: You cultivate sources of specific ingredients--coffee grounds from the Whole Foods store, fur from the pet groomer, stable bedding from the alpaca farm. You are certain each will transform your heap into a pile of 24-karat black gold.

Advice: If you want to gild your compost by adding soil amendments (like bonemeal), "add them when the compost is finished and ready to be used in the garden," advises Janet Moreland, master composter with the Riverside County (California) Waste Management Department.  "Otherwise, the additives decompose and lose their valuable nutrients."

What's Your Sign?

• The Slacker

• The Engineer

• The Speedster

• The Alchemist

• The Worrier

• The Mystic

• The Hoarder

• The Microbe Manager

• The Industrialist

• The Novice

• The Nonbeliever

• The Evangelist

Turn kitchen scraps into super-fertile soil!  Learn more.

New for your e-reader or tablet: Compostology 1-2-3.