Surrounding the plants was a layer of plum slate chipping, and tiles edged the perimeter of the border. We started off by sawing the tops of the Cordyline stems off so that they wouldn’t get us in our eyes. George dug out the tree stump with a mattock whilst I started digging out the chipping’s and pulled out the lavender.
It’s always a tough job removing bamboo, but thankfully the previous owner who had laid this garden had used two layers of membrane with two layers of gravel. Although it was still really hard work, once the bamboo roots started coming up around the edges we managed to pull out huge lengths. The two layers of gravel had certainly done their job and the roots hadn’t made their way further down.
The hardest part of the garden was in the far corner where the bamboo had grown around the customer’s internet cable.
It’s difficult digging out roots when you are right next to a wall as you can’t get any leverage, but thankfully the mattock did it’s job. With some care and precision we managed to cut the cable out.
Once all the major bamboo roots were out, we then dug over the border to pull out any finer roots and to break up the soil. The final part of this project was digging in soil conditioner as well as laying a thick layer as mulch. The customer is planting up new Lavender bushes, a Pittosporum and a Mimosa tree now that it’s ready for planting. This job though tough was very satisfying!
