NEW MARKET, Va. — A little rejection, they say, can be good for the soul. Good for the pocketbook, too, given some imagination.

Landfills across the nation increasingly are rejecting yard wastes, while ocean dumping is being declared off-limits. So what’s the typical waste maker to do?

You might consider composting — even making a bagging and marketing operation of it.

“Cold” or passive composting is the easy way to go. Simply dump your food and yard wastes into a pile and leave them there to rot. It may take a while — a year, probably more — to generate good compost that way, but anything organic eventually breaks down. Even when left unattended.

So-called “hot” composting, however, speeds the process, kills most weed seeds and cooks many of the herbicides lingering in your grass clippings although it’s best to avoid the latter, if possible.

It’s a method, however, where things can go wrong.

Some gardeners don’t use the proper materials, said Mark King, an environmental specialist. A good compost pile needs carbon for energy, nitrogen to help the discards replenish, oxygen to thrive and moisture to live.

“Add the wrong stuff or mix the wrong proportions and you can create a sticky, gooey mess,” he said.

A simple way to create a healthy compost pile is by adopting the green-brown formula. Use two parts brown (leaves, sawdust, shredded paper — the carbon) to one part green (food, grass clippings — the nitrogen).

“Then use the squeeze test to determine if you’ve mixed and watered well,” King said.

“If you ball your fist around a handful and some water runs out between your knuckles, then it’s too wet. If you open your hand and some crumbles and falls out, it’s too dry. But if it balls in your hand, it’s just right.

“The mixture should feel moist, like a wet sponge, but not liquid.”

Like any good recipe, there are certain things that enrich the mixture. That includes peat moss, sawdust, coffee grounds, hay and straw, among a myriad of others.

And then there are things to avoid. Bones, dog and cat wastes, diseased plants and weeds, fats, meat scraps and animal carcasses are a few things that come to mind.

Many carry diseases, others attract carnivores, some can bring invasive weeds into your yard.

“The better the blend of ingredients, the faster the compost time,” King said.

Composting can be done year-round. Piles can be placed almost anywhere — in sun or shade — although it’s wise to avoid locating them near a water source. Shredding the materials, especially leaves and branches, hurries things along.

You’ll know your compost pile is doing well when you see steam rising from it, or when you’ve managed to avoid creating any odors, King said.

Compost is a living thing. It isn’t uncommon for the metabolic heat of a working pile to reach more than 100 degrees Fahrenheit, King said.

“Problems come with too little moisture and too small an airspace,” he says. “Stirring generally takes care of it.”

Many people create elaborate bins from wooden panels, barrels, wire cages or concrete blocks.

I use a dog kennel as a compost container, complete with hinged gate for discouraging nocturnal wanderers. I’ve also stacked several bales of straw to contain the nitrogen-rich byproducts of rabbit hutches and chicken houses. The straw bales break down as well, and usually around the same time.

Some people are content to throw their wastes into a heap, then regularly water and stir. That may not be as tidy, but it works.

Composting serves many functions. It improves the condition and structure of your soil, replenishes the organisms living deep within, boosts the soil’s ability to retain water, helps control certain plant pests and recycles organic wastes, keeping them out of landfills and waterways.

And probably the best thing for backyard gardeners: Compost is dirt-cheap.

Dean Fosdick retired in May 2001 after 23 years with The Associated Press. He can be reached at deanfosdick@netscape.net