Composting allows home gardeners to recycle organic material into a useful gardening product.

Leaves, plants killed by frost, vegetable scraps and grass clippings can all be composted.

You can operate a compost pile year-round.

The composting process will continue through the coldest days of winter.

Nearly 30 percent of the material homeowners throw away can be composted.

This keeps wastes out of landfills and creates a product that adds valuable organic matter to your lawn and garden.

Some landfills do not accept leaves or garden waste.

Composting may be the easiest way for you to dispose of them.

Composting decomposes organic matter into a dark, crumbly material similar to humus.

Along with providing nutrients, finished compost helps soil retain water by increasing its organic content.

Compost is a valuable soil conditioner that can be used in gardens, around trees and on lawns.

You don’t need a special compost bin. Unconfined heaps can be visually offensive to neighbors.

If you have neighbors living close by, you may want to consider using a compost bin.

Other than that, you need few tools except for a manure or garden spading fork for turning the material, and perhaps a soil thermometer.

Composting tools and bins are available at hardware stores and garden centers, or you can order them from gardening catalogs.

An inexpensive bin can be made from masonry blocks, boards, wire or snow fencing.

Make sure your bin is at least three-feet-high and three-feet-wide so that it can hold enough material to function properly.

Once you have your bin situated on level ground, you can fill it with plant and vegetable scraps, eggshells, coffee grounds, sawdust and even small bits of paper.

The pile should contain a mix of carbon- and nitrogen-rich materials because these are essential for the microorganisms that do the decomposing.

Green leafy wastes are usually high in nitrogen. Woody materials tend to be high in carbon.

Fertilizer and manure are also good nitrogen sources.

The microorganisms that aid in composting need some moisture, so you may need to water the pile from time to time.

One way to gauge moisture is to do the squeeze test.

Tightly squeeze a handful of the material.

If it looks and feels dry as a bone, hose down the compost pile.

With proper aeration and ample amounts of carbon, nitrogen and moisture, the pile should reach at least 90 degrees in the middle, indicating the process is working.

Temperatures up to 140 degrees will kill weed seeds, but higher temperatures can kill the composting microbes.

Check the temperature once a week with a soil thermometer. If it gets too high, turn the compost pile.

As long as the pile is large enough to insulate itself, it will continue to decompose without being turned, although at a slower rate, throughout the winter.

When warm weather returns in the spring, begin to turn it again.

The compost is ready to use when the pile cools and the material is dark, crumbly and sweet-smelling, like soil.

“Growing Green” is contributed by Lehigh County Extension Office Staff and Master Gardeners. Information: Lehigh County Extension Office, 610-391-9840; Northampton