Trench for Bamboo Barrier – Part I
2006.04.27
Today I started digging the trench for the bamboo barrier. The barrier material is 30 inches tall, and they recommend leaving a couple inches out of the ground, so that rhizomes will have to try to climb over the barrier, and thus will be easier to detect and chop off. That means a 28-inch-deep trench all the way around the area I want to plant bamboo. In my case, it will be approximately 100 linear feet of trench.
Unfortunately, the ground I am digging into has just about the worst conditions imaginable. The top foot or so is a combination of hard, dry clay, gravel, and random fist-sized stones. Below that though, the clay is moist and more workable, and there aren’t many rocks to deal with.
Breaking through that top layer, though, has proven to be quite a chore. I took a break and went to Lowes and HD to see if I could find any tools that might make the job easier. I bought a post-hole digger, but found that almost completely ineffective. About the only practical use I’ve found for that so far is that it has graduations along one handle to show you the depth you’ve dug out, so periodically I’ve stuck that down in the trench to see if I’m going deep enough. Not that there was anything wrong with sticking the tape measure down there.
I also bought a couple items to jury-rig a miniature auger to help break up the ground. This consists of a hammer drill (although the hammering option didn’t seem to have much effect), and an aluminum or light steel auger bit designed to be used to plant small flowers in soft garden soil. Obviously, it was not intended to plow through hard clay and rocks, so don’t try this at home, kids. It has a tendency to suddenly stop when it hits something too hard or is just too far down in the ground, thus nearly wrenching your left arm off. That said, it did have some effect in breaking up the ground a little, so I could come back through afterwards with the shovel and hoe.
After part of an afternoon’s work, I sure haven’t made much progress. This is going to be a lot of backbreaking work.
Bamboo Nursery