Opaque whispers of damp fog creep up our front steps, eddying gently around the base of several vine maples before draping the fiery foliage of a mature oakleaf hydrangea in shimmering layers of gray, white and silver.

It's just past 3 p.m. and, judging by the muted colors and sounds of this normally vibrant garden, it could be almost dusk. The fog quickly thickens, swirling across the landscape in an attempt to shroud plants, outdoor furniture and even stalwart arbors in an impenetrable cocoon of subdued, misty dampness.

I walk outside in my boots, gloves and warm coat, fully intending to vanquish slimy tomato foliage, but instead find myself wandering in an erie, almost unrecognizable landscape.

Falling leaves drop in slow motion, their velocity seemingly delayed by the thickened air molecules. Voices from our neighbor's barn are skewed, their pitch and direction altered. Colors are dim, filtered through layers of mist and increasing fog.

I find weather conditions like this to be great fun. Foggy days put everything within a garden on equal footing. Without the distractions of color or even clarity, you can sometimes see design solutions more quickly. This perspective can be very helpful when brainstorming ideas and can actually help to remove emotion from the equation.

Ah, but emotions are inevitable when it comes to gardening questions. Readers, while invariably good-natured and kind, do want their queries answered in a timely fashion. And so, without further ado, here's our Q & A for November:

Question: "I lost my recipe for making compost using autumn leaves. Could you run it for me again?"

Answer: You bet! The following technique comes from author Jeff Cox, who uses it to create compost in just six weeks:

1. Gather supplies. Begin this fall, when leaves are readily available. Store in leaf bags. Use these bags when temperatures drop and you need a layer of insulation around tender shrubs or perennials. If you don't want to bag, rake leaves into a pile and cover with a tarp. The leaves may be a bit matted and wet next spring, but not enough to matter.

2. In March or April, whenever you start mowing again in earnest, start building your pile. Choose a location with a bit of room; a dormant vegetable plot works perfectly.

Begin with a 4-inch-thick layer of leaves spread to cover a six-foot-square. Add four inches of grass clippings. If you're short on clippings, check the curb - your neighbors may have bags sitting there, awaiting pickup.

3. Continue layering until the pile is four feet height. End with a layer of grass on top. Wait about a week. The pile should be steamy hot in the center.

4. Now it's time to mix your ingredients. To avoid the heavy lifting necessary in order to turn a pile, Cox recommends using a grubbing tool called a mattock. Using the side with a flat square blade, face the pile. Spread your legs, then swing the mattock up and back behind your head. As the blade reverses and comes back down, aim to slice a foot-wide section off the outside of the pile.

Continue around the pile, raking what you've sliced into a new pile. Before you know it you'll have made a brand new pile that nicely mixed and half decayed. Repeat once or twice more, at two-week intervals. The results should be a dark, crumbly, sweet-smelling compost that's high in various trace elements. Spread the finished product on borders or dig into planting holes.

Q: "Our wooden deck looks sad and empty over the winter. Any thoughts?"

A: If the surface of your deck is tired and dried out, plan to clean, repair and reseal or stain your deck. Fall - even late fall - is a good time for this chore because most decks aren't being used as heavily.

Author Barbara Ellis recommends picking a warm, clear day to clean, seal or staining. Pound in nails that have worked loose, and sand away rough edges on damaged boards. Although requirements vary depending on the product you buy, waterproofing sealants generally require temperatures above 32 degrees F. and popular stains require temperatures above 50 degrees F. to set properly.

Here in Western Oregon, consider sprucing up your winter deck with longer-lasting small shrubs, trees or cool-weather annuals grown in containers. They'll add color to the garden during mild weather and continue growing all winter long. Ornamental cabbage and kale are good choices, as are pansies and Johnny-jump-ups.

Containers planted with dwarf conifers such as weeping or upright junipers (Juniperus spp.), dwarf Norway spruce (Picea abies) cultivars such as 'Little Gem', 'Nidiformis' or 'Pygmaea' and dwarf white spruce (Picea glauca) including 'Conica', 'Hobbit', 'Humpty Dumpty' or 'Jean's Dilly'. Dwarf cultivars of mugo pine (Pinus mugo) such as 'Mops' or 'Gnom' work well, too.

Dwarf versions of Japanese silver grass (Miscanthus sinensis) such as 'Little Kitten' and 'Yaku Jima,' or dwarf fountain grasses (Pennisetum alopecuroides) like 'Hameln' or 'Little Bunny' also stay handsome all winter. So does a variegated (Yucca filamentosa) cultivar such as 'Bright Edge' or 'Golden Sword.'