Zen fence: it's easily built with bamboo - Garden: Project

Sunset, July, 2003 by Lauren Bonar Swezey

Using bamboo poles, you can erect a 12-foot-long fence like this one, built by Bob Davenport and Joe House of Lotus Valley Nursery (530/622-2321) in California's Sierra foothills. Harvest culms (stems) from your garden (cut ones that are at least three years old), or buy poles from a nursery or one of the sources listed on page 147. You can substitute other kinds of bamboo. Adjust dimensions if necessary: the top pole needs to be 11/2 to 2 feet longer than the fence.

Materials

Black bamboo (Phyllostachys nigra) poles: one at 14 feet, two at 4 feet Gravel

* Two 90-lb. bags concrete

* Two four-foot-long 4x4 redwood fence posts

* Eight 3-inch nails

* Yellow groove bamboo (P. aureosulcata) poles: three at 12 feet, two at 4 feet

* 1/2-inch copper pipe: one at 4 feet

* 18-gauge copper wire

* Two lightweight concrete finials (optional)

Directions

(1) Dig two holes 1 foot deep, 10 inches wide, and 12 feet apart (measured from the outside of each post). Put a 2-inch layer of gravel in each hole. Mix concrete with water according to package directions. Set a post in each hole, then fill around them with concrete, angling the surface so water drains away from the posts. Allow concrete to set until thoroughly dry (at least a day).

(2) Pound a nail about halfway into the inside face of each post 2 inches below the top, at a slight angle as shown. Cut 7 inches off one end of the 14-foot-long top pole, then slip the cut end over the nail. Gently flex the pole and slip the other end over the nail in the opposite post. If the curve is too extreme, cut more off the pole.

(3) Place the copper pipe halfway between the posts vertically, and pound it about 5 inches into the ground. Lash it to the bamboo top piece with wire as shown (above right); twist ends closed with needlenose pliers.

(4) Measure the exact distance between posts; then, to install the three 12-foot crosspieces, cut each to fit (you'll need to trim about 7 inches). Pound three nails into the inside face of each post at 1-foot intervals, starting 1 1/2 inches below arch. Slip the end of one pole over a nail; then, gently flexing the pole, slip the other end over the nail in the opposite post. Using wire, lash it to the copper pipe. Repeat for the other two crosspieces.

(5) Pound two 4-foot-long yellow bamboo poles on either side of the copper pipe as shown. With wire, lash each one to the arch and to the bottom crosspiece. Install the 4-foot black bamboo poles; lash them to the top two cross poles.

(6) Add finials (optional).