Juli Lawrence – Rakish Gardening

June 28th, 2008

I didn’t really slash and BURN. Slash and burn is a technique of clearing land – especially forests – that probably started in the Neolithic era as man moved from hunting and gathering to an agriculture.

But I did prune/lop/saw the one side of bamboo. It’s been turned into a bundle of cane, which I will now make into an Japanese-style fence. The actual process of cutting it all down wasn’t that hard. On the bigger culms I had to use my bow saw. My next step will be to make clean cuts on the canes and take an inventory of how many I have, and their sizes, then design my chunk of fence.

The space is now completely bare, and looks like a naked mole rat. It’s sad. I had grown so fond of looking out a back window and seeing that thick green jungle that blew with such magnificence in the wind. The other side is still there, though.

From the point of view of the bamboo purist, I’ll be going about this the wrong way.

First, I’m using mostly cane that is new, from this spring. So it’s only two months old. The “rule” is to use cane that is three years old or beyond, because it’s had more time to toughen. But since this bamboo had to come down, the choice is use it or lose it, and I can’t bear to lose it. I realize it may not last twenty years, but if I get three to five out of it, I’ll consider it a success.

Second, it should really be properly cured, but I’m going to use it green and allow it to cure naturally. It will be an interesting process to watch. As it is, this cane seems pretty tough anyway, tough enough to make a fence section.

I hope to build it, or at least start on it, this weekend. Then I’ll transplant a lot of hummingbird vine starts, and by midsummer, it could be beautiful. It’s one of those things that you envision, but you don’t know whether it’s going to be pleasing or not until you actually do it.

• Creepy centipedes in the compost pile
• Spring to do’s
• Bamboo out of control, so let’s eat the shoots!
• Moving my bamboo – Phyllostachys Bissetii
• My bamboo journey – Bissettii bamboo

Tags: bamboo
Posted in Organic Gardening | No Comments »