We Are Big Dummies

Our driveway is bordered by the back of a bunch of buildings. It's private but ugly. Luckily there were hops and an unknown bush that I call the Dr. Seuss plant already growing in the small dirt pits available. I moved some roses near the end of the driveway at the gate, but next the garage there is a white vinyl wall that is so intrusive it needed something larger. So we bought some bamboo to fill in the space.

We did some research and decided that we wanted running bamboo. We figured it would take years for the bamboo to send out runners, so we had time to put in a sheet metal barrier later. Well it only took four years. Today we had a runner extending almost eight feet away from the clump. Ugh. We should never have planted the bamboo directly into the ground. We are big dummies.

Meet the bamboo.

Considering our recent destruction of concrete steps and the resulting piles and piles of rubble, we decided to dig out the bamboo and build a planter. The planter should hold lots of the debris leftover from jackhammering AND the bamboo will now be contained. Although I would never purposely kill a bird, I think we killed two today. With one stone.

Nate cut all the cedar to size yesterday and built three of the four sides. Today we got a lot done, but it's still not quite finished. We dug up the bamboo, put the planter together, and started filling it with debris. Just to see how it would look, we tossed the bamboo back in. It looks great. However, it needs to be arranged and topped off with dirt. So I will finish up this week and post before and after photos on Friday!

The plan.

The goods.