Bamboo trench

1'-0" deep bamboo deterrent trench

Hugh and I dug a 1'-0" deep trench a couple weeks ago to deter the VERY INVASIVE neighbor's bamboo from encroaching into our yard.  It has been a great source of frustration for me.  The 20'+ bamboo grows so rapidly that when we came back from our week long vacation, the little shoots we left had grown into 10' tall spikes.  The new shoots are easy to stamp out, but once they are over a couple feet tall, they start becoming woody and you need a saw to cut them down.  Then of course, you are left with sharp spikes sticking out of your lawn - not desirable.  So, in short, we don't want the bamboo in the yard.  We dug a trench and we are supposed to go along the trench twice a year and prune back the runners that attempt to cross the trench.  We are giving the bamboo a couple feet of our yard because it does make a great privacy screen and we hope that, by the end of summer, we won't be able to see our neighbors ugly chainlink fence anymore.