Bamboo For The Yard And Garden

Discussion in 'Crops & Gardens' started by Yvonne Smith, May 10, 2020.

  1. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    Bamboo can be a great addition for a yard,, providing you keep it under control. We were given a couple of plants several years ago, and they have been gradually spreading. These are not the variety that grows and spreads really fast, so they have not been hard to keep under control.

    One year, we rented a house that had a stand of the fast growing bamboo, and I cut some and used it for making a garden trellis along the back porch, and then grew tomatoes, cucumbers and squash there along the trellis. It worked really great; so I asked Bobby to cut down some of the excess bamboo in the yard, and I am going to make a plant trellis with it again.

    Here is a picture of the first one that I made , back when we were renting the house that had good sun exposure and lots of bamboo for me to use. You can see the bamboo trellis that the plants are climbing up the side of the porch on.

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  2. Ed Wilson

    Ed Wilson Veteran Member
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    I pray your bamboo is nothing like Japanese knotweed which has been running out of control here for years.
     
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  3. Shirley Martin

    Shirley Martin Supreme Member
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    The bamboo that I have seen here is highly invasive. They say there is no way to get rid of it permanently.
     
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  4. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    There are a lot of different kinds of bamboo, but the kind we have now does not seem to spread very fast, and I like having the mature stalks to use for gardening. We are going to let it spread along the side fence between us and the house next door, which will give us more privacy in the back yard.
    Today, Bobby chopped down some of the bamboo for me, and then I took my pruners and cut off all of the side branches, and they are ready for me to put together a trellis with them.
    Here is part of the back yard, and the bamboo that Bobby cut down for me, before I trimmed the branches. It looks like short bamboo, but it is really just lying down, and you can see the tall ones in the background.

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  5. Maggie Rose

    Maggie Rose Very Well-Known Member
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    Oh, there's a lot of uses for bamboo. I'm kind of jealous. I have no idea how crazy it is to keep it under control or anything like that but I do like bamboo products. Nice!
     
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  6. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    So…. An update on the bamboo saga.
    It turns out that this bamboo does spread really fast, and has been going crazy , especially this spring.
    Before, we cut them back , or at least topped them so that they were not really tall, but them Bobby decided that he liked them to be tall, and now we have some that are probably around 20 feet tall, and they have been doing their best to take over the whole yard. I have been chopping them out of the middle of my garden and my blackberry patch, and Bobby has been cutting back some of the really tall ones.

    I do like having some of the bamboo, and it is fun to make simple little things with it, like we made the teepee gardens this spring for the climbing plants. However, when they are hardened off, it is almost impossible to cut them into lengths, and even trim off the side branches.
    Before, I used my pruning shears, and the long hedgetrimmers (or whatever they are called). Anyway, they do not work, they just mutilate the bamboo and it still does not come apart.

    Next, I tried sawing them, and that worked somewhat better, but the saw kept sticking in the bamboo, and it was pretty frustrating to get it sawed off properly.
    Amazon is always the go-to place for answers to every problem, so I watched some more youtube videos and saw a happy lady easily cutting down tall bamboo with a cordless reciprocating saw, and right then, I knew that i really NEEDED one of those. Off to Amazon I went and looked for one that was lightweight, simple to operate, and made for an Old Lady on a tight budget.

    When I told Bobby what I needed, he said that he could use one of those, too, and if we found one that I liked; he would buy it for me ! Together, we found what looks like the perfect bamboo saw. It is under $50, only weighs 3 lbs, and uses a smaller battery. No problem there, by the time the battery runs down, so will I , just like with the weed eater and the rototiller.
    It should be here by Tuesday, I think Bobby said !
    Here is what I am getting , and it can live in my potting shed and not in Bobby’s shop. Actually, it will probably live in the kitchen where I charge up all of the batteries for my other yard tools.
    Everybody keeps their weedeaters and reciprocating saws in the kitchen, along with the blender and coffee maker, right @Beth Gallagher ?

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    Last edited: Jun 5, 2022
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  7. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    Plus it makes carving that Thanksgiving turkey a breeze!
     
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