Late last Autumn we finally said good riddance to the bamboo bush:
It was a shame to say goodbye because we use the bamboo in the garden to support other growing plants and also give it to our neighbours, but it was simply becoming very hard to maintain/tame. So it had to go! In its place we had originally planned to build a little pagoda-esque feature with a fish pond but this was still up for debate.
To do the deed we used a combination of chainsawing and axing it to death. It was a very dramatic afternoon:
After this, we cleared away all the debris and fallen bamboo and rolled out the large stones. We then had to remove the roots as it is an extremely resilient plant that will continue to come back with only the smallest bit of root left. We then left the hole uncovered for several months while we both deliberated what to do and to make sure the bush had definitely been killed off. It did become a bit of a hazard!
We decided that we enjoyed having the open space and to not create a covered fish pond. It did take several months of deliberation, but this summer we finally finished the job. We laid some flags and we created this:
I think it is a real positive change and has opened up the outside space immensely. It is a real pleasure to sit there during the heat of the day. It is a shame that the bamboo bush had to die in order to create it but, believe me, it was a real pain to tame!
