Trench for Bamboo Barrier – Part V
2006.07.02
Yesterday I bought a 3″ trenching shovel, figuring this would make it easier to dig down a little further in the bottom of the trench. I got out there around 8:30 this morning, and started at the east end of the trench. With the trenching shovel, a garden trowel, and tape measure, I dug down to about 28 or 29 inches. I was very careful to measure all along this time, unlike before, when I mostly eyeballed it and only checked every few feet. I managed to get about fifteen linear feet done by 10:30, when the sun was already too hot for this kind of work.
2006.07.03
I headed back out around the same time this morning, and worked till around 11:00. As I went along the front trench, it was closer to the correct depth towards the middle. But then towards the west end I had to dig deeper again. Still, progress went faster than yesterday. I skipped over a couple spots where I’ll have to chip out buried concrete again.
In the afternoon, I went to the Rebuilding Center and wandered around for a while. After that, I stopped by my friend Matt’s house and we sat out back and talked for a while. A couple or three years ago, he acquired some free bamboo that someone didn’t want, and went through his own fun project of digging a trench, installing the barrier, and planting. After a slow start, this year his bamboo is doing quite well, shooting up tall and filling in nicely. So that was an encouraging sign of what to expect in the future.
This evening after it started to cool down a little (and the trench was shaded by the fence somewhat), I went back out and continued working. I started by breaking out more buried concrete (mostly that same large piece that Nate helped smash up before, but now I needed to break it down even deeper). Then I continued along towards the west end of the front trench. After an hour or so, I had the front trench ready to go (I hope).
2006.07.04
This morning I went back out for more digging. It took me a little while to move the barrier from the back trench to the front trench. Then I started digging along the back trench from the east end.
After a couple hours, I had maybe fifteen to twenty feet complete. However, I’m not sure that I’m digging the back trench quite deep enough, I may need to go back over that section yet again. Still, I think I might be able to finish the digging in another weekend. Famous last words?
Barrier Trench, Part IV