Fall season is just a month away and so is your chance to get your hands on the best compost in the Pacific Northwest.

The annual Zoo Doo event calls for you local gardeners to enter your bid to purchase the highly coveted Zoo Doo or Bedspread that Dr. Doo has been piling all summer.

Zoo Doo is the most exotic and highly prized compost in the Pacific Northwest. Composed of exotic species feces contributed by the zoo’s non-primate herbivores, Zoo Doo is perfect for vegetables and annuals.

Bedspread, the zoo’s premium composted mulch, is like Zoo Doo but with higher amounts of wood chips and sawdust. It’s the perfect mulch for perennial beds and woody landscapes such as native gardens, rose beds, shrubs, tree rings or pathways.

WHEN: For a chance to purchase Zoo Doo or Bedspread, send in a postcard from September 1 through September 23 only. You can enter both the Zoo Doo and Bedspread drawings, but separate postcards are required: for Zoo Doo, mark your postcard “Zoo Doo.” For Bedspread, mark your postcard “B.S.” Entry cards will be selected randomly for as many entrants possible. Dr. Doo will contact the lucky drawn entries only.

Pick-up dates for Zoo Doo or Bedspread begin October 1 and end on October 17. The lucky winners load the compost and Dr. Doo will arm you with shovels.

HOW: Only one postcard per person is eligible for each drawing. Phone orders will not be taken.

Send a standard postcard to Dr. Doo, Woodland Park Zoo, 601 N. 59th St., Seattle, WA 98103. Include the following information:

- Name
- Day and evening phone numbers
- Preference: Zoo Doo or Bedspread
- Amount of Zoo Doo or Bedspread you’d like to purchase (anything from a garbage bag to a full-size, pick-up truck load)
- Weekday or weekend preference for pick-up

PRICES: Zoo Doo and Bedspread: Pick-up truck 8x4 bed: $60; 6x4 bed: $45; 6x3 bed: $35. Limit one full truck per person. Garbage cans: $8 to $10 depending on size; bags: $4 to $6 depending on size. Two-gallon and pint-sized buckets are available anytime at the ZooStores for $14.95 and $4.95, respectively.

For more information, call the Poop Line at 206.625.POOP or visit the zoo’s website at www.zoo.org.