Bamboo…

Posted by Cheryl on Jul 01 2008 | 2. Garden on Tuesday

…rhymes with Kung Fu.

I’ve had a garden for about two weeks now.
Dashed into the local DIY shop for supplies, including bamboo poles.
Can’t have too many for supporting plants or making tripod trellises.

Doing a major tidy round the place.
And what do I see behind the outbuilding?

Bamboo. Lots of it.
Never considered northern Virginia to be a bamboo growing area, but there ya go, a thriving crop.
Would come in mighty handy if we had a pet panda.

Now I’m the proud owner of a renewable source of free, albeit not too pretty, bamboo poles.
Potential for yarn, to be sure, if only I could spin it straight from the stalk.

8 comments

8 Responses to “Bamboo…”

  1. # queenie

    eeek! oh no! not bamboo!

    It takes over. . . . .

    It sounds draconian, but: kill it while you still can!

    Or: get the panda.

    01 Jul 2008 at 8:18 am

  2. # Lauréole

    bambou yarn and bambou needles too ! ;-)

    01 Jul 2008 at 11:07 am

  3. # Jo

    Not to mention Bamboo fishing poles….

    There are two veriations of banboo. One does in deed have the potential to take over while the other doesn’t. Before destroying it I would check with a garden center.

    01 Jul 2008 at 11:21 am

  4. # Lien

    Ooooh, yeah, I heard bamboo can take over everywhere! Better check.

    I heard it takes a heck of a lot of processing to get yarn from the bamboo plant, though, which is too bad, really, isn’t it?

    But, hey, nothing to stop you looking into it, right…?

    02 Jul 2008 at 1:42 pm

  5. # Beth P.

    I have heard that the National Zoo is always looking for sources for bamboo to feed the pandas.

    I have heard that the leaves were used in the past as a packing material. There would usually be some seeds mixed in and when people threw out the packing material some of the seeds would find a place to germinate.

    Bamboo is processed to make fiber pretty much the same way as rayon made, certainly not something you can do at home!!! You would be better off growing flax for linen!

    Beth

    02 Jul 2008 at 4:10 pm

  6. # Sherry

    that’s too funny–figures it’s under your nose!
    Enjoy your sunshine, it’s still pouring here in Wicklow, I’m sure you know. Happy 4th!

    04 Jul 2008 at 3:43 pm

  7. # Patricia

    Happy 4th, Cheryl. It looks like your slowly unpacking!

    04 Jul 2008 at 4:35 pm

  8. # Kat

    OOOHHH! Bamboo…think of the shabby chic needles you could make!

    07 Jul 2008 at 10:30 am

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