How to Grow Bamboo Without It Taking Over

by Vineta @ The Handyman's Daughter

Bamboo has a bad reputation for growing out of control and taking over the neighborhood with its running rhizomes that pop up everywhere you don't want it to go. Luckily, if you select the right type, prepare your planting area properly, and perform annual maintenance to keep it in check, you can create a beautiful bamboo screen without making enemies of your neighbors.

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This is the area of our garden that I hope to transform. Isn't it lovely? ;) I've been dreaming of creating a beautiful Japanese-style garden in this area, with a backdrop of swaying bamboo to cover up the fence and add more privacy.

But before I start digging out the weeds and planting bamboo, I needed to do some research to make sure my bamboo screen doesn't turn into a forest!

There are two types of bamboo: running and clumping. The running variety will take over the neighborhood if given the chance, so I'll be sticking with the clumping variety. It grows in a circular grouping rather than a thin screen, so it may need to be divided a few times to get the look I want.

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Source: www.bamboogarden.com

A raised garden bed would be the ideal solution if you have your heart set on a certain variety of running bamboo. These raised bed kits (affiliate link) would be perfect for planting bamboo, because you can stack two sets on top of each other to make a bed almost 2 feet tall. That should prevent running bamboo from spreading to other areas of the garden.