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composters and fruit bush moving


woolybanana
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I have built a couple of composters out of old pallets and am steadily reducing the pile of garden waste that was sitting looking hideously ugly. I have also googled advice but was wondering whether anyone has any tips for making decent compost. Thus far, mainly garden waste without lawn clippings have gone into the pile.

To accommodate the eventual greenhouse the fruit bushes are gonna have to be moved, as it is the time of year. Also googled for advice. Any extra tips welcome, svp.
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I have compost heaps in both UK properties that have been established 10 and 30 years ago, they always rotted down well and the weight of new grass clippings etckept them compacting. For several years coinciding with my removal of most of the trees and bushes = no more leaves and clippings, the grass cuttings dont seem to be rotting down and compacting like before.
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There’s no substitute for cutting things up as fine as you can + heat + a dose of compost accelerator + some moisture (some recommend urine, but I’ve never fancied doing that!)

Hard cuttings will take for ever, so confine it to shredded leaves (I have two separate bacs for that), and household veg peelings & stuff like teabags (not fruit, but don’t know why).

Heat is crucial to the time required, but you’re in the frozen north, so don’t get much of that !

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+1 for Gardian's post. You also need water - not too much, but if you have suffered a drought like we have this year, my compost heap is closer to dried hay than anything you would use to plant in or improve the soil.

Grass clippings on their own tend to compact and form a mat, which when wet becomes a soggy mass. You need something in there to allow the air to flow through the heap. If all else fails, chopped up cardboard works well. If the heap is becoming compacted, dig it out and put it back. This aerates everything.

Transplanting fruit bushes - never tried it. It is very easy to take cuttings (aka twigs from this year's growth) from red, white and blackcurrants, and gooseberries. Raspberries should be relatively easy to transplant if you take new shoots. Strawberries - take or buy new runners.
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Agree with Andy about the cardboard.  You need to have "green" and "brown" stuff.  So, grass, leaves etc plus twigs, branches, teabags (as mentioned) newspapers (not glossies), egg shells and veg peelings.

Some watering in dry weather and the occasional turning everything over helps.

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Watering has been forbidden here since the start of June. In fact things are still so bad that there is currently an arrete for any open flames from any source anywhere in the open countryside in the Ardeche. A lot of concern of a repeat of the 2003 forest fires which saw thousands of hectares destroyed - and some still far from recovered.
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